The Giving Tree feels like Silverstein took a Jewish-mother joke and excised the punchline, and somehow the resulting tale was received as aspirational rather than a horror story.

My Jewish mother hates that book. I think she has since it was published. We only had a copy in the house because, ironically, some well-meaning friend or family member gave it to me. I've been able to tell her in recent years that she was ahead of the curve!