We all know the story of the selfless tree that gave all she had just to
make sure a young boy was happy.
Snore. This is a different tree. This is a different boy. This is a very
different book.
The Taking Tree is not so happy when the boy takes her twigs to pick on
his sister, or takes her apples to sell for college (she's an oak tree
for goodness sake), or when he cuts off her branches to build a house
that he burns for insurance money. And the boy is not sorry at all.
Ever. In fact, he's kind of a jerk. And the boy asks for more, and more,
and more until the oak tree is so fed up she just can't take it any
longer. While another story might end sweetly with an old man sitting on
a stump. This one does not.