Intermediate
Tan Tan lets Ping buy the shade of his tree, but gets upset when Ping is there all the time and brings his friends. Tan Tan moves away and becomes lonely. When he gets back, Ping shares the shade with him.
I'd love this as a read aloud and as a message about sharing and kindness to my students.

This book has vibrant illustrations. Ping lives in China, he is poor, but he finds happiness in the shade of a tree. The tree belongs to Tan Tan, who is very rich. Ping is willing to give his last few coins to Tan Tan for the shade of the tree. By the end of the folktale, the two boys become friends. I enjoyed reading this book! It is such a good example of how the simplest things can make us happy. ( )

I really enjoyed this picture book. The Shady tree was about a little boy who had all the money he could every need (TanTan) and he had claimed a tree. He claimed the branches, the leaves, and even the shade. One day Ping wanted to play with TanTan. TanTan was not having this. Ping decided to buy the shade from the tree from TanTan. The shade from the tree grew all over the yard and house of TanTan. Eventually Ping was everywhere TanTan was. TanTan grew tired of this and moved away. Ping then moved in and took over the shaded house. Ping never turned anyone away and eventually TanTan came back. I think the lesson in this book is that all the money in the world cannot buy you happiness and it is better to have friends and share.

Love this story. Excellent book to share with children to teach about the idea of sharing and not to be greedy.
This tale takes place in China and is about a poor boy and a rich boy. The poor boy buys some shade from the rich boy. The rich boy Tan Tan thought he did a most wonderful thing by selling shade. However, Tan Tan did not realize what he had just done. Ping ping would come everyday to sit in the shade of the tree wherever it was. If the shade moved into Tan Tans bedroom than Ping Ping moved to the bedroom. Wherever the shade was Ping Ping followed. Then Ping Ping would invite his friends and animals to come join him. Much to Tan Tans dismay there was so much commotion that Tan Tan had to leave his castle, but then he had no friends and was lonely. Luckily for Tan Tan Ping Ping would let anyone come to shade. He even let Tan Tan come back to join the big group of friends.

Cute story. Perfect for sharing with young children. Friendship and forgiveness. ( )

Also a good book to add to the book shelf at school as it provides diversity within the classroom. This book shows how different people might be, some might be greedy while others might not be, and greediness can lead to negative consequences. This can open conversations among students to see what their meaning of the book might be. This book would be fun to have the students write what they think should happen in the story of maybe how to solve the problem of what was going on.