Warning: If you love the book The Giving Tree, you probably shouldn’t read any further; I’m just going to make you mad.

Because I have never liked it. It always seemed pretty creepy to me. I don’t think Shel Silverstein necessarily meant it as a sweet tale, either, but rather a cautionary one. He wasn’t a real sentimental guy, our Shel. Anyway, my view was vindicated some years back when Walter the Giant Storyteller, a well-known children’s book champion and critic who came to the Arkansas Literary Festival, told me he never liked it either. But then along comes The Giving Tree: Sassy Gay Friend, wherein said friend finally helps the tree stand up for herself. What I love though, is how they sneak in another famous book at the end. Check it out: