Of all the books we received, only one came in duplicate. My husband and I received two copies of "The Giving Tree." This book has a vexed history. Shel Silverstein, a real weirdo and a strong critic of tales-with-morals, might really have wanted to depict sadism and masochism. He might have wanted just to show two odd ducks who find each other, and who get off on giving and taking. He might not have wanted to deliver a lecture to parents. But "The Giving Tree" has been co-opted. There's now an idea that you, as the parent, should be the relentlessly martyred tree; you should offer your branches, your leaves, your apples, your trunk to the rapacious child, until there's only a little nub of you left. This is why "The Giving Tree"--beloved in some corners--is also one of the most hated books in America. I have, also, a book where the mother bear continuously deprives herself for the baby. "I am your wait," she says to her baby. ...