# Children's books that you dread reading aloud for fear of crying

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/61 "2009-05-16T02:25:04Z")

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> [@Lily\_Milliner](#):
>
> 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.

Absolutely! I teach second grade, and assuming I continue to do so, next year will be my last in which I have kids who were born before 9/11. For the past two years I read _The Man Who Walked Between the Towers_ to my kids on 9/11 (maybe the nearest schoolday in 2007, I forget), and I definitely get choked up at the end. I talk to the kids just a little about 9/11 when we’re done; one of them brings it up, and I try to give them some age-appropriate context. Wonderful, astonishing book.

Another in the genre: [Coming on Home Soon](http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Home-Soon-Jacqueline-Woodson/dp/0399237488). It’s about a girl whose mom goes off to work in another city to make money while she stays home with her grandma and misses her mom. That’s sad, sure–but it’s the cute little goddam kitten who wanders into the book who makes me cry. A kitten, ferchrissakes! That’s just low.

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**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-books-that-you-dread-reading-aloud-for-fear-of-crying/495792/62 "2009-05-16T15:17:06Z")

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> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> 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.

I was waiting for this and was going to chime in if someone else didn’t. SEVERAL points in The High King reduce me to tears EVERY TIME. There are points in the other books as well, but that one in particular…

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