So tell me, did every children’s book author gang up one day and say:
Hey, check this out, I think we need to sell books to parents, not children, so let’s all write stories that make Moms cry. They should address issues like growing up, moving out of the house and adult diapers. Then death.
What am I talking about? This book:
Let me break down the story line and you will see what I mean.
The story opens with a mom holding her baby in the hospital telling her, “Someday, I will read a book called ‘Someday’ and weep like a baby.” Or something like that, it’s hard to read words when you’re crying.
The following pages show a baby girl turned baby child, turned college kid turned mom of her own… but the ending is what kills me.
Without spoiling it for you, it ends with a the illustration from the beginning -this time it’s in a frame and says something to the effect of ” You will remember me.”
Yeah, Mom dies.
Who writes this stuff?
Yes, it is beautiful, the illustration and poetic notions of a woman watching her child grow are beautiful, but it had me crying. No, sobbing.
In Target.
At Christmas.
I looked like a woman in the middle of a mental breakdown next to “Electronics.”
And then there is this book:
This is a story of a little boy whose Mother holds him before bed and whispers “I will love you forever.”
Yes, the boy grows up, yes, he leaves, and yes he starts a family of his own. But, its the page where he is holding his Mother, who is now too old and frail to hold him that kills me.
He whispers to her,”I will love you forever.”
Look, writers, these stories are gorgeous, but they are too sad to read to kids.
Hey, here’s an idea…Let’s take all the Disney stories where Mom or Dad get killed before the baby grows up, put them all together in a book and call it,”More Tragic Stories – For Kids!”
So this Christmas, before I put Bea down for her Christmas Eve winter’s nap, I won’t be reading any sad, sappy books. No, I’ll stick with the traditional story… you know the one with the Scrooge and the little boy who can’t walk? Crap! Nevermind.
{ 6 comments }
Yeah, I can’t buy books like that. I don’t want to start crying while I’m reading a book. What would really suck was if you were doing story time and started crying. Dang.
Oh this will never be read (cried through) at storytime!
I agree. While the sentiment is lovely, I can’t be a mushy mess while I’m reading it to my baby!
Your post got me thinking about it, and just about every traditional fairy tale or children’s story that I thought of has some tragic component in it!
Disney often equals tragedy too. Why did Bambi’s mom have to die? GOSH!
I got the Love You Forever book for my Godson when he was three…he’s now six and a half and I still can’t read him this book without crying! It has become one of his favorite books and he always asks me why I cry when I read it to him. I just tell him that someday he’ll understand.
Reading your comment about reading my post about not reading that book do my daughter is making me tear up. Damn, you, emotional children’s books!
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