The Giving Tree was banned in Colorado for many reasons. Some of the reasons that I found through research was that a message of taking without giving is presented as acceptable for children to do. The boy is consistently coming back to the tree without repaying it in some sort of way. Every time the boy comes back to ask for something, the tree asks the boy to spend time with it. Instead of saying “yes” since he will be asking for a favor, the boy repeatedly says no and goes on to ask for his favor. I do see this point of view to be inappropriate for young readers. Children are taught at a very young age to share with one another. For example, children might hear, “Johnny shared the cars with you yesterday. You should share some of your blocks with him today.” In this teaching, children learn to do unto others what you would want them to do unto you. This book does not properly depict this lesson. Rather, children are being taught that they can consecutively ask for things and it will be handed to them without having to do anything in return. I hope that my input on this book gives you better thought as to why it should stay banned.

Sincerely,

Angelica Arocha

Reading this book made me think about my own journey of being a young bilingual student. As a young child (early elementary school), I was expected to help my grandparents if we ever went to the store or needed to talk to other people who did not know Spanish. It was a bit difficult for me because I did not know Spanish to its full extent. I was confused having to go back and forth between the two languages and I was discouraged a lot because of how many times I was corrected on either language for not pronouncing a word or phrase correctly. I sympathize with Mia and her grandmother’s struggle to communicate with one another. I was glad to find and read a story that I could truly connect with.