Arbor Alma/the Giving Tree

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Summary: Rendered in an exquisite Latin
Review: Arbor Alma/The Giving Tree In Latin by Shel Silverstein is the profound and simple story of a lifelong relationship between a boy and a tree who happily responds to the boys's every need. As the boy grows to become an old man and, (from branches to trunk) diminishes the tree's stature with his continuing requests, both the human and the tree find themselves transformed -- yet the tree remains happy. An evocative and engaging parable, The Giving Tree is rendered in an exquisite Latin which wonderfully complements Shel Silverstein's original story and illustrations, adding an unexpected and very welcome dimension to a multifaceted classic with its ageless and timeless appeal.

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Summary: The Giving Tree
Review: I think that this book is a good book because it is short and sweet. In a way it kinda relates to life. The Giving Tree is a easy and fun to read.

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Summary: Erat quondam arbor...
Review: Shel Silverstein's 'The Giving Tree' has become a classic parable of modern times. Like good parables, it has a multivalent quality toward interpretation. Some people love it, and some people hate it. The story is simple, as is the vocabulary and grammar. There is a tree, who loved a boy, and gave the boy whatever he needed that was within her power to give. When the boy was hungry, she gave apples. When the boy was tired, she gave shade. When the boy, now grown, needed a home, she gave lumber. Over the course of the story, the tree gets reduced to a stump from having given and given (give 'till it hurts?). The boy, typical of humans, is never-ending request of needs. The tree, typical of nature, perhaps typical of parents, perhaps typical of God (one never knows if Silverstein had an intended metaphor here), gives and gives without complaint and without counting the cost. The boy likewise doesn't count the cost. But what is the real cost, and isn't it worth it?

The publishers Bolchazy-Carducci, of Wauconda, Illinois, have devoted efforts toward an enterprise to publishing modern classics into Latin - and who ever said it was a dead language? There are many titles to be had, but few as well known at Silverstein's 'The Giving Tree'.

This is a book of few words, the better to make it a book for teaching reading to young children. Similarly, the plot is not complicated -- the sentences are simple constructions and the action fairly standard. This helps those who might use this text to learn or re-learn Latin, too, as the vocabulary required is small -- all the words needed can be found in the glossary at the end, consisting of fewer than four pages.

The translators note that there are a few stylistic differences. While keeping to Silverstein's basic informal style, they have varied the text more (in English, Silverstein uses a repetitive pattern that the Tunbergs have opted to change now and then, as Latin texts would be more likely to do so). This is not a word-for-word translation, but rather 'an interpretative translation, not a mere verbal image of the original text.' (postscript, About the Text)

While this is not a Latin grammar, and the construction of verbs, noun endings, etc. are not explicated, still one can begin to pick up the basics of Latin grammatical construction from texts like 'Arbor Alma'. Jennifer Tunberg (Ph.D., Oxford) and Terence Tunberg (Ph.D., Toronto) are both educators, and thus have a care for the reader learning something from the text in addition to gaining enjoyment from it. While one could easily see the translation of a book such as 'The Giving Tree' into Latin as a purely academic exercise, in fact the book serves several purposes, including teaching (or re-teaching) Latin to students, and introducing the language to people who might not otherwise be exposed to it. Books like 'The Giving Tree' and Dr. Seuss (another of the translation projects of the Tunbergs) eliminate somewhat the 'intimidation factor' that Latin has for some, particularly when presented with Caesar or Cicero in long-winded passages.

This is a wonderfully fun book, a good gift for those who have everything, a good offering to the budding or the latent Latin scholar, and an interesting conversation piece even for those who have no Latin background at all. The classic line-art drawings of the boy, the tree, the apples, and more, are kept here intact. At first glance, one might think this was the 'real' thing -- looking more closely, one discovers that the mystery of Silverstein's parable becomes yet more paradoxical in the Latin language.

And the tree was happy.