Four Skinny Trees. Four Skinny Trees is an excerpt from the book by Sandra Cisneros entitled The House on Mango Street. Four Skinny Trees is found on pages 74 and 75. Copyright Sandra Cisneros, 1984 and published by Vintage Contemporaries, 1991. They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here.