Maybe Shel was that boy in The Giving Tree (which I agree was a horrible book for children). Sounds like he would definitely take what people had to offer...
I enjoy his work but what is with artistic creative people and their neglect of their responsibility? If I was a kid whose Mom died when I was 5 and then I got to go live with my grandparents and died at age 11, I am sure having a book dedicated to me (especially a book that other children had read to them at bedtime by their parents) would even things out. Talented but very flawed.