Do you cry whilst reading to the children?

I do at a lot of books but The Selfish Giant gets me every time.

Still blubbing just thinking about it

OMG GDABD - I remember that one too! I got it from the library to read to DD2 who was three when I was pg with DS and DD just couldn't wait for the new baby to arrive. We kept it for quite a long time. DD used to "help" by "reading" Sophie's words (i.e. from memory!) After the first few times pregnancy hormones got the better of me and I had to get DH or DD1 to read it to her .

Needless to say she and DS are now inseparable.

dp cries at Puff the Magic Dragon

The songwriter has published a book under his name with the song lyrics, and there's a section of pictures at the end introducing a new little girl to be friends with Puff to give it a happier ending.

I got a book for my DD1 called 'Sophie and the new baby' when I was pg with DD2. (My DD1 is called Sophie ).

I cried when I read it to her as it's all about how Sophie finds the new baby hard cos he doesn't do anything but needs everything....she goes out into the snow on her own and cries..........

"I don't want my baby brother anymore!!!!"

And she looks into the house to see her mummy and daddy cuddling the baby and she feels so alone.......

One story always sets me off, don't know what it's called as its part of a collection but it's about an abandoned baby left under a tree and the tree looks after the baby then "she" is found, then the tree lets the child play on its branches, then when the "girl" is a bit older she takes some firewood, then as a young woman she cuts the tree to build her house and then at the end the tree says that it can't offer anymore than its stump and the woman is now an ancient old lady and she dies sitting on the stump...always makes me cry!
But then the old lady had planted an acorn and a new tree grew..

I can't read "You are all my favourites" to my dcs without sobbing into several tissues.

Little Baa, when Ma hears little Baa crying for her, and it was "the sound she most wanted to hear in the whole, wide, new, spring world"

plus loads of your choices. i am feeling quite tearful reading all your ideas, they are great books.

"If you are lost in the wood, in the wood, I will find you"

"And they sang to the sea as they all set sail, On the tail of the grey blue humpback whale."

Well, finding out that I'm not the only blubbing bedtime story reader around has cheered me up. I started to worry about myself when I welled up during the first chapter of Swallows and Amazons yesterday. (Think it was because we're reading from the copy my dad gave me, sniff)

I never managed to finish reading Love you Forever to my dd - couldn't get the words out for sobbing.
And since ds was born, find it impossible to sing Two Little Boys without breaking down.

These have been known to jerk a tear, especially the Papa one: "Papa, Do You Love Me?" and "Mama, Do You Love Me?" by Barbara M Joosse.

I can suggest if you like this sort of thing The Happy Prince - 'swallow, swallow, little swallow, pluck out my eye!!' about a statue who can stand over the city and see all the poor and suffering little children. He asks a little swallow bird to pluck all his gilt paint, the jewels in his eyes etc.The swallow delivers the bits to the poor for medicine and food. In the end he has nothing left to give and he is all bare so they melt him down. I have never read it to my own but my mum used to read it to me. It was utterly heart rending -complete with sad colour plate illustrations. Why she used to read it I do not know. It is by Oscar Wilde. And the original (not Disney, obviously) Little Mermaid where she turns to foam on the sea in the end. Tragic. Feel really down now!!

I used to work in a nursery and always had to do story time as the kids sat quietly for me(!) and couldn't get through Some Dogs Do or Guess How Much I Love You, but the worst was always What Colour Is Love? by Linda Strachan

"What colour is love?
Every colour, all around,
Because nothing else matters when it's love that you've found"

My godson read it at his parents wedding, was sobbing...!

Love You Forever completely finishes me off every single time - like proper sobbing, snotters, the works ....

DD just ignores me but DS (7) is a bit of a drama queen so forces himself to 'well up' too.

End of Winnie the Pooh - me too! I haven't been able to read that to any of mine since getting to the end of it when DD1 (now 15!) was fast asleep in her cot and therefore didn't see me blubbing. Another story that DD2 loved and asked for over and over was "Tell me something happy before I go to sleep" by Debi Gliori. If I read it now to the younger ones I well up. With DS, it was a book called My Friend Harry, about a little boy and his toy elephant, that started me sniffing.

I've read the Narnia stories to all my children and the end of The Last Battle is always difficult to read. Before that, though, the departure of Reepicheep the talking mouse from Voyage of the Dawn Treader had youngest DD in floods of tears and she started me off, but fortunately I was able to reassure her (fans of CS Lewis will know what I mean but I don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't read it or are looking forward to the next film!)

DH left me reading The Velveteen Rabbit to the baby. He came back into the room to find me gibbering incoherently. Alarmed, he sat down by my side and held my hand. "It's..just...so... sad," I explained. He thinks I'm bonkers, so I'm glad I'm not the only one or should that be .

Ditto with the Railway children, the bit on the railway station, especially on the film makes me sob, because my father died 18 years ago and it upsets me so much, also ditto on guess how much I love you. Another book which gets me is "Twas the night before Christmas" which I read to my DS every christmas eve. It makes me get a lump in my throat because I had it read to me as a child every christmas eve and it brings back so many happy memories. Which I know is an odd reason to cry but it does it to me every time!

I'm with mcfee on the Railway children - have goosbumps just thinking about it now! Also, I know it's not a book, but I cannot even have a DVD/video of Dumbo in the house since having the DCs...that bit where she's got her trunk through the bars of the cage and she's rocking him to sleep and singing......oh my, oh my...

'The Lonely Tree' I borrowed it from the library and ignorantly started to read it to the kids, I didn't know that it was a book to help kids with bereavement. The young tree makes friends with the old tree and they all go to sleep for the winter, in the spring, the young tree wakes up and looks for his friend but he doesn't wake up, he has died. The kids still ask me to read it 'No, because it makes Mammy cry' they plead on 'Stop it, or I'll cry right now, don't even mention it' and so on and so on, and and 'bunny my honey' about the bunny who gets lost and looks for his Mammy, and Moneky Puzzle for the same reason.

Have recently been reading "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" to DS (nearly 2). At the end I feel sad for the bear - wandering home on his own, and was telling DS "oh poor bear, he just wanted a hug". No response from DS.

15 mins later DS was standing on his change mat, having his pjs put on, when his mouth turned down, lip wobbled and tears started streaming from his eys and he wailed "poor bear, bear just wanted a hug" and collapsed into tears. Cue me to weep. We composed ourselves until half way through his bottle when again he dissolved into tears.

For both our sakes I now explain that the bear is going home to his mummy and daddy for a hug.

It was a defining moment for me - and his reaction moved me deeply.

Oh agree with Lockets, there is nothing that gets me more in the throat than the end of Winnie the Pooh when he and Christopher Robin go off to their special place and CR tells Pooh that he's leaving to go to school and everything is changing and is all so... so... sniff... SAD. I well up just thinking about it

Puff the magic dragon - esp the song. It's so sad that I'm not sure I should expose dd to it at all!

Definitely the bit at the end of the Railway Children when Bobby is at the station shouting "My Daddy, my daddy, my daddy!" And also the bit in one of the Little House on the Prairie books where Jack the dog dies.

The little match girl
The little Prince
The Happy Prince

so many of the others on here I'm crying now (and off to AMAZON tomorrow to get my dcs some lovely books!)