# Children's books that you dread reading aloud for fear of crying **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792 "2009-05-08T21:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/41 "2009-05-11T15:03:46Z")
I LOVE _Make Way for Ducklings_! That is one of my all-time favorite childhood books. That and _Be Nice to Spiders._ ---
**Author:** ![Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weaver_of_Nightmares)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/42 "2009-05-11T16:02:10Z")
> [@manx](#): > > The last chapter in The House at Pooh Corner makes me cry and cry, and I don’t entirely know why. Partly it’s because Pooh realises that Christopher Robin has outgrown him, but is content to wait behind, knowing that he’ll be returned to less and less, knowing that he can offer only love, because he doesn’t understand the new things Christoper Robin is learning at school. I think for me it’s the last couple of lines. I haven’t re-read it recently because of this. It makes me so sad, this ending of a period. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Krebbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@Mr.Krebbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Krebbs)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/43 "2009-05-11T16:36:56Z")
Another [Oscar Wilde: **“The Happy Prince.”**](http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/177/) The thing gets sad about a third of the way through and sadder as it progresses. As a grown man that damn story has made me cry; the attempt at a happy ending doesn’t make up for it. Read at your own risk. > [@EJsGirl](#): > > **The Giving Tree** , by Shel Silverstein. Saddest goddamned book ever. The tree will do anything for him, until finally she has nothing left to give him except a place to rest. Seconded (ETA: to concur a fourth or fifth time, sorry). The boy’s treatment of the tree is what gets me - he’s such a selfish prick. Yet the tree still loves him to the end. I’m not a parent, but I think that this book is a good metaphor for parenting from my observations; maybe the end doesn’t hold up to that interpretation so well. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/44 "2009-05-11T16:43:47Z")
Can we include children’s song lyrics? Puff the Magic Dragon makes me cry… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/45 "2009-05-11T16:50:56Z")
> [@manx](#): > > The last chapter in The House at Pooh Corner makes me cry and cry, and I don’t entirely know why. Partly it’s because Pooh realises that Christopher Robin has outgrown him, but is content to wait behind, knowing that he’ll be returned to less and less, knowing that he can offer only love, because he doesn’t understand the new things Christoper Robin is learning at school. That makes me think of Jurassic Bark in “Futurama.” I know, I know, NOT a book or for children, but it also involves someone waiting behind…forever. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/46 "2009-05-11T17:24:04Z")
AAAHHHH!!! _fingers in ears_ LA LA LA LA LA LA LA _trying very hard not to think about "Jurassic Bark_ _lip wobble_ Bastard… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/47 "2009-05-11T17:26:33Z")
Sorry. I created a follow up thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517205) just asking if people who have these books that make them cry dislike the books for that reason. Didn’t want to hijack this one too much, so there it is–it’s a question that’s intrigued me for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/48 "2009-05-12T02:29:10Z")
Are You My Mother? Corderoy (that spelling does NOT look right…) ---
**Author:** ![Lily\_Milliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8edcca/32.png) [@Lily\_Milliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lily_Milliner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/49 "2009-05-12T03:09:56Z")
> [@stargazer](#): > > In addition to _Love You Forever_ (my husband has to read that to our son, I can’t get through it without getting all choked up), I have yet to get through _[On the Night You Were Born](http://www.amazon.com/Night-You-Were-Born/dp/0312346069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242052049&sr=8-1)_. Okay, I can’t actually get through the description of it on Amazon without crying, turns out. It’s just a lovely little book about how the whole world rejoiced when “you” were born, and how you are unique and special and loved. We got it for our son for his first Christmas and I don’t think he’s ever heard the whole thing because it makes me all sobb-y. > > Also, I have a hard time getting through _Make Way for Ducklings_. Those policemen, what a nice thing to do for a little family of ducks! I can usually hold it together, but eventually my son will be old enough to catch on to the fact that something funny happens to Mama’s voice when she reads certain books… I’m with you, Stargazer. I’ve had to use the “Um, sorry, I lost my place… got distracted” routine while I pull myself together. My favorite book in this genre, though, is The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. It’s full of gorgeous illustrations of Philippe Petit’s amazing high-wire walk between the two World Trade Center towers (the illustrations are based on film taken that day, I believe) that just convey the grace of human endeavor. At the end, it just says something like “The towers are gone now. But they live in our memories as they did on that August day when Philippe Petit walked in the sky.” I’m crying just thinking about it. But it’s a great way to introduce children to what happened on September 11, should you feel a need to start that conversation. I will also mention Sophie’s Masterpiece, by Eileen Spinelli, and The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola, but won’t attempt to describe at the moment! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/50 "2009-05-12T03:31:10Z")
I cannot read Chapter 14, “Alamo Gulch” of Phillip Pullman’s **The Subtle Knife** without bawling like a baby. Heck, I’m tearing up right now, just thinking about it. The display of love and steadfastness in the face of danger is breathtaking. Being at once hopeless and satisfied, doomed and accepting… there’s just so much at play in this chapter, and the last sentence just reduces me to jelly. Great book. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/51 "2009-05-12T04:35:51Z")
The last page of **Mrs. Katz and Tush** , by Patricia Polacco, just kills me every single time I read it. _Thinking_ about it makes me choke up. It’s the story of an old Jewish widow, childless, who sort of adopts an African-American family in her apartment building (and they adopt her right back). The end is inevitable. You see it coming a mile away. But that last page. Damn. And count me among those who find **Love You Forever** to be completely creepy and awful. ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/52 "2009-05-14T21:50:58Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Can we include children’s song lyrics? Puff the Magic Dragon makes me cry… Oh man, you and me both… \*A dragon lives forever but not so little boys Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys. One grey night it happened, jackie paper came no more And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar. His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain, Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane. Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave, So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh! \* That kills me. You gotta be made of stone for that not to break your heart… ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/53 "2009-05-14T22:29:49Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > The last page of **Mrs. Katz and Tush** , by Patricia Polacco, just kills me every single time I read it. _Thinking_ about it makes me choke up. It’s the story of an old Jewish widow, childless, who sort of adopts an African-American family in her apartment building (and they adopt her right back). The end is inevitable. You see it coming a mile away. But that last page. Damn. > > And count me among those who find **Love You Forever** to be completely creepy and awful. Polacco has another book called [Pink and Say](http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/pink_and_say/ps_index.html) about two boys (one black and one white) during the Civil War. Both of the boys are eventually taken prisoner and Pink is hanged. At the end you find out that Say was Polacco’s great-great grandfather and the story of his relationship with Pink has been passed down through the family. The last line of the book is: “Before you put this book down, say his name (Pinkus Aylee) out loud and vow to remember him always.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/54 "2009-05-14T22:52:49Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > This is why I didn’t read sad books to my kids. > > We had all been at a local historical village and just got home. There was a message on the machine to call my bro, and I learned that another brother had died. Lord knows, I knew I should be sad, but I was surrounded by two 2-yr-olds and a 6-yr-old who were loving and enjoying life and couldn’t understand Death if I tried to explain it, so my tears were delayed. > > I don’t think little kids need to be forced to confront Death, and I’m pissed at the vast number of authors who disagree with me. The thing is, kids _do_ confront death. Grandma dies. Fluffy dies. Even if they don’t have a pet or friend or relative who dies, they’re insatiably curious about death, and dying, and all the stuff parents don’t want to talk about. That’s part of why fairy tales are full of death and suffering and such - kids want to talk about it and explore it. Now, some kiddie lit is just exploitative, but I don’t think you can say that about _Charlotte’s Web_, for example - the spider dies at the end because that’s how the world is - you have to grow up, your parents can’t look after you forever. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/55 "2009-05-14T23:15:04Z")
Reading the one-star Amazon reviews for _Love You Forever_ is downright hilarious. 😃 I gotta admit, I haven’t actually read the book. It sounds like half the audience finds it a heartwarming tale of unconditional love - and the other half, a creepy Psycho-like story of stalking, obsession and (just possibly) incest. ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/56 "2009-05-15T12:26:58Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Reading the one-star Amazon reviews for _Love You Forever_ is downright hilarious. 😃 > > I gotta admit, I haven’t actually read the book. It sounds like half the audience finds it a heartwarming tale of unconditional love - and the other half, a creepy Psycho-like story of stalking, obsession and (just possibly) incest. I know! It’s fascinating. It’s apparently a polarizing thing, huh? It’s like Sarah Palin in children’s book form (did I just type that?). It seems to me, judging from the hilariously diverse (and adamant! So adamant! :D) reviews, that the dividing line on this one concerns being able to conceive allegories in a significantly abstracted way. Just a wild guess- I’ve never even heard of the book, but I’m intrigued. Sounds like I might have to give this one the old “Borders Thumb-Through”… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/57 "2009-05-15T12:44:03Z")
I sort of disagree with Puff and Pooh, I mean, Puff sort of did affect me as a child, but when I grew up, I realized that if I had known actual dragons and talking animals as a child I would very well make time for them as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/58 "2009-05-15T14:09:07Z")
> [@Bamboo\_Boy](#): > > I know! It’s fascinating. It’s apparently a polarizing thing, huh? It’s like Sarah Palin in children’s book form (did I just type that?). It seems to me, judging from the hilariously diverse (and adamant! So adamant! :D) reviews, that the dividing line on this one concerns being able to conceive allegories in a significantly abstracted way. Just a wild guess- I’ve never even heard of the book, but I’m intrigued. Sounds like I might have to give this one the old “Borders Thumb-Through”… Heh I’ll be keeping an eye out for it too. 😃 I doubt I’ll buy it for my boy, though. Seems more something that would appeal to (or alternatively horrify) parents. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/59 "2009-05-15T14:51:29Z")
Several parts in the Chronicles of Prydain, notably what happens to Prince Rhun, and even moreso the whole wrap-up of the series in _The High King._ As an adult, I introduced my wife to these books, reading aloud every night, and couldn’t keep my eyes dry despite great effort. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/60 "2009-05-15T18:02:48Z")
Moderator interjection: You’re doing fine, I just want to remind all future posters please, do NOT quote large amounts from works. Much better is a small quote within Fair Standards usage, and providing a link to a web-site that has the work, with the author’s (or whatever) copyright permission. I’m leaving the long Oscar Wilde quote, assuming that the copyright is long run out. However, even for something like that, we’d much prefer that you provide a link to another web-site rather than lengthy quoting here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792.md?page=4)