It's very special episode day today! Kate and Betsy are celebrating their 50th episode (where does the time go?). It seemed fitting that they mark the occasion with an important book. There are so many titles that they still haven't done that could yield wonderful conversations. As such, it seems fitting that they finally do the most requested book of their podcast. In the course of things they also manage to come up with a connection between this and Harold and the Purple Crayon, discuss how this tale may be told in 3rd Tree Perspective, and introduce the world to the medical condition we like to call "Jules Feiffer feet".

Source Notes:

- For fun, check out the Travis Jonker interview with the photographs of Shel Silverstein. Best thing you'll read all day: http://100scopenotes.com/2017/05/12/a-conversation-with-shel-silverstein/

- Betsy wasn't wrong, by the way. Giving Tree Groot truly exists: https://geektyrant.com/news/guardians-of-the-galaxy-and-the-giving-tree-mashup

- Just a plug. Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature does indeed contain a two-page spread of quotes from children's book creators on The Giving Tree. One page Pro. The other one Con.

- Go here if you'd like to read "The Giving Tree at 50: Sadder Than I Remembered": https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/giving-tree-50-sadder-remembered

- Harper Collins actually collected a lot of Giving Tree tattoos on their Pinterest page here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/5699937005646084/

- Want to read the biography "A Boy Named Shel"? Why not just wait for the film Coming soon to a theater near you starring, I kid you not, James Franco: http://collider.com/james-franco-a-boy-named-shel-silverstein/#images

- Sassy Gay Friend meets The Giving Tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYQavD9mSIc

- Shel Silverstein reads The Giving Tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZCP6OqRlE

- Feel free to read Giving Tree Made Horrific here: http://the-toast.net/2013/11/13/gifts-giving-tree/

- The full text from "If the Boy From The Giving Tree Was Your Boyfriend" can be found here: http://the-toast.net/2015/07/20/boy-from-the-giving-tree-boyfriend/

- And we didn't discuss it but long ago I offered a challenge for folks to reillustrate Dr. Seuss titles in the style of other illustrators. This one from illustrator Aaron Zenz was, to my mind, one of the most brilliant: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/03/01/re-seussification-project-the-results/

For full show notes visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2018/07/31/fuse-8-n-kate-the-giving-tree-by-shel-silverstein/