A reader writes:

My mother gave me The Giving Tree during my sophomore year of college. I knew and loved the book but was slightly embarrassed to receive it from her at age 20. I rarely called home at that time. I even stayed with my girlfriend's family when she and I returned home for the holidays. My father had left when I was four. When Mom remarried she quickly became a diplomat in a makeshift family. She graduated college with a 4.0 GPA when I was a teen, but never missed a basketball game, band concert or school play. Only now - eight years later and still a zombie on the phone - do I realize the significance of her buying me The Giving Tree. You've put a lump in my throat.

Another writes:

I am a businessman, the father of a 13-, 11- and 9-year-old, and I cannot read The Giving Tree without choking up.  I think there are several reasons: