Story Map for The Giving Tree by Brynn Keever

brynnkeever2005 — 2025-06-04 14:09:37 UTC

At the beginning of this book, the audience is introduced to the strong relationship the boy has with the tree. He is constantly around the tree, collecting her leaves for playtime, eating her apples, or taking naps in the shade. It is shown that both the tree and the boy are happy during this time, as they are together every day.

brynnkeever2005 — 2025-06-04 14:15:02 UTC

This is a read-aloud of the Giving Tree!

brynnkeever2005 — 2025-06-05 16:06:12 UTC

As we move toward the middle of the book, we can see that the little boy has grown into a young man. He comes to the tree, asking for help making money, as he believes it will make him happy. Since the tree loves the boy so much, she offers all of her apples to him. This way, he can sell her apples and make money from that, ultimately making him happy. Then, the boy came back a few years later, explaining to the tree that he wanted a house and a family. Since she could not make the boy a house, she offered her branches to be used in crafting a home. The tree was happy because she loved making her boy feel joy in any way that she could, even if that meant giving away parts of herself.

brynnkeever2005 — 2025-06-05 16:07:37 UTC

After not seeing the boy for a long time, the tree was becoming saddened. Until one day, the boy came back. This made the tree feel instant joy. The boy, who is now an old man, expresses how he is sad and old, and the only thing to bring him happiness would be a boat. He wanted to go far from where he was, and a boat seemed to be the best option. Since the tree lived to make him happy, she told him to cut down her trunk in order to make him a boat. The man did just that. Even after the boy cut down her truck, the tree was happy, because her boy was happy. The boy comes back again at the very end of the story, the tree explains that she has nothing left to give him. The boy explanied that he was too old for all she had to offer anyways, so she offered him to sit on her stump. This gave the tree an immense amount of joy, as she got to serve her boy one last time.