By the end of the 20 th century it was at #51 for the 100 most banned books of the 1990’s. Still, the criticisms continued when, in 1985, challengers at Cunningham Elementary School in Beloit, Wisconsin, said that A Light in the Attic “encourages children to break dishes so they won\’t have to dry them.”Īs soon as the news of one school district banning the books was revealed, other schools across the nation quickly jumped on the bandwagon. That’s just too much thought put into a children’s book that the only thing I ever got out of was the importance of sharing and I was a professional in the mental health field for over 10 years.
Some psychologists claim the book portrays a “vicious, one-sided relationship” between the tree and the boy with the tree as the selfless giver, and the boy as the greedy person who takes but never gives. Was the tree selfless or self-sacrificing? Was the boy selfish or reasonable in his demands of the tree? The controversy over The Giving Tree is mostly due to debate over its interpretation. That’s all? Haven’t these people ever heard of creative diversity? This led to some claiming that A Light in the Attic contained “Suggestive illustrations.” Some argue that it has nothing to do with the books themselves it is simply the fact that Shel Silverstein wrote them that is the reason they should be banned because his career included having drawn cartoons for Playboy. So what could be so evil about these tales that the American Library Association has Silverstein on its list of frequently banned books? Let’s face it, how many of us haven’t wondered at some point why a babysitter doesn’t sit on a baby? Well, I did, but I digress… These books have endured because Silverstein paints a whimsical world of fantasy that teaches us valuable and philosophical lessons, while at the same time making us laugh at absolute nonsense. The Giving Tree is one of the most affectionate, oft-quoted, and beloved children’s stories of all time A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends are many a child’s first introduction to poetry.
For more than 40 years the books of Sheldon Allan \”Shel\” Silverstein have entertained and delighted readers as they are shared by fans and passed down to younger generations.
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