What if the Giving Tree said "no" to the boy?
Thousands of adults online are resonating with alternate endings to classic children's books that may not have aged well in light of modern-day gentle parenting.
In his series "Topher Fixed It," Atlanta-based playwright and screenwriter Topher Payne reimagines "The Pout-Pout Fish," "Love You Forever," "The Rainbow Fish" and "The Giving Tree."
In the original "Giving Tree," the tree gives away her apples, branches and trunk for the boy who keeps returning and asking for more. It's been the subject of some criticism for portraying an unhealthy, one-sided relationship.
But in Payne's reimagined "The Tree Who Set Healthy Boundaries," the Giving Tree stops at the apples. Instead, the tree shares how she feels about their friendship changing and explains why she doesn't want to give everything away. The boy practices empathy and the tree remains strong and tall for generations to come.
"Setting healthy boundaries is a very important part of giving. It assures you'll always have something left to give," the book ends. "And so the tree was happy. Everyone was."
Many Instagram users applauded the alternate ending, which was shared recently by both Payne and podcaster Adam Grant. Grant's post about the ending on May 4 has racked up 129K likes on Instagram.
"Reading your ending to 'The Giving Tree' healed a little piece of me tonight!" commented one Instagram user.
"Thank you for this − I always loathed the message in this book," another wrote. "The original is one of my favorite books," another person replied. "I've read it a hundred times and cry each and every time... I think reading both versions to our kids is key so they can see how the two options play out. Thank (you) for this."
Payne says he's also received backlash since he began the series during lockdown in 2020. But he emphasizes the alternate endings are meant to inspire thought, not criticize the originals. He first started the "Topher Fixed It" series in hopes of prompting nuanced conversations that he remembers having with his aunt when he first read the books as a child.
"What I found in a lot of people's relationship with the book is that maybe that conversation doesn't always happen and so the messaging in 'The Giving Tree' can go off in some pretty wild directions," Payne said.
He wrote the alternate endings to stand alongside the original text to compel conversation, whether that happens when reading to a child or returning to the text as an adult.
"The stories we're told as children are often one of the few things we all have in common," Payne said. "The originals are a classic for a reason. I celebrate them and the (reimagined) stories are meant to stand alongside them, not in place of them."
The "Topher Fixed It" stories are available for free download from Payne's website. He does not receive monetary compensation for his alternate endings and is not seeking to publish them.
Readers have suggested other titles for him to reimagine, but Payne doesn't have any immediate plans to recreate another story. Instead, he encourages others to give it a try.
"If there is a story that you've been told that you would love to consider another option, put that to paper and see what it looks like," he said. "It can be really cathartic for you to resolve that story for yourself in that way."
Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@usatoday.com.