Beautiful lines from children's books

coolcarrie so glad you did the bit from the Happy Prince for me. I can never read it without howling. The DC just gawp at me the stonehearted little buggers.

Also I've just bought a copy of Oh the places you'll go for a little boy i work with who is suffering enormously with anxiety. I'm already excited to read it with him.

Pretty much all of the snail and the whale ... The sea and the sky and rhe tiny sea snail

And they sang to the sea as they all set sail

And tiger who came to tea "all the cats had their lights on"

" “Real isn't how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

The Velveteen Rabbit.

On The Night You Were Born is my favourite. The whole book is just beautiful; both DCs still love to read it at bedtime despite being humungous.

Heaven blew every trumpet
And played every horn
On the wonderful, marvellous
Night you were born

Someone bought it for the nursery I work in.
I point blank refuse to read it at work. The old manager took the piss out of me for days before she read it herself. She proper sobbed in front of the kids.

Bring me the two most precious things in the city", said God to one of his angels and the Angel brought him the leaden heart and the dead bird.
"You have chosen wisely", said God, " for in my garden of paradise this bird will sing for ever, and in heaven the happy prince will be happy for ever".
From The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde, a wonderful book, as are all his fairy tales which Oscar wrote for his sons. The tales like The Selfish Giant always make me cry.

In Noel Streatfeild's The Growing Summer, when the children say goodbye to Aunt Dymphna at the airport. They have come to appreciate her kindness despite her eccentricity and the Spartan conditions at her run-down house, and give her a special farewell present:

'It's not for eggs, we knew you wouldn't want one of those,' Robin burst out. 'It's a sermon timer. It takes exactly fifteen minutes, we've timed it.'
Aunt Dymphna gave the sermon timer a little pat. She seemed as if she was trying to say something. Then she gave her cloak a flap, tossed back her head, and she was gone.

But the wild things cried, oh please don't go
We'll eat you up - we love you so
And Max said, no.

Always sends a pleasant chill through me! I think it's the idea of love as literally all consuming, and at the same time parental love allowing the child to explore but always come back to a safe place (or something like that!)

ready - I bought that for book for my son when he went to uni.

"I've brought you the moon...the bright yellow moon and all the twinkly stars." From Can't You Sleep, Little Bear?

The Places You'll Go is the one that gets to me, though.

ready I was going to say "I'll love you forever" book. I'm not a cry-er but that makes me sob. I tried to read it to the DC's once and couldn't get through it.

Gosh. Haven't RTFT but welling up.

Oh god, Paper Dolls. I can't read it without choking up.

'And the paper dolls flew into the little girl's memory where they found white mice and starfish soap...and more and more lovely things each day, and each year'.

The kind granny who only exists now in the little girls memory, and the end...'and the little girl grew into a mother'...cries

"Ruby" by Maggie Glen. Ruby is a tenacious toy bear, made late on a Friday afternoon by a tired machinist. Not up to standard, she gets rejected by the bear inspector and dumped in a box with other rejected toys, to be thrown away.
Ruby masterminds their escape through a vent. Away they run. Some run to the town, some run to the countryside and some................

"climb into the beds of lonely children"

I can't read that line without a lump in my throat. Gets me every time.

For those who don't know it:

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr, 
A little black nothing of feet and fur; 
And by-and-by, when his eyes came through, 
He saw his mother, the big Tattoo. 
And all that he learned he learned from her. 
'I'll ask my mother,' says Pinkle Purr. 

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr, 
A ridiculous kitten with silky fur. 
And little black Pinkle grew and grew 
Till he got as big as the big Tattoo. 
And all that he did he did with her. 
'Two friends together,' says Pinkle Purr. 

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr, 
An adventurous cat in a coat of fur. 
And whenever he thought of a thing to do, 
He didn't much bother about Tattoo, 
For he knows it's nothing to do with her, 
So 'See you later,' says Pinkle Purr. 

Tattoo is the mother of Pinkle Purr, 
An enormous leopard with coal-black fur. 
A little brown kitten that's nearly new 
Is now playing games with its big Tattoo… 
And Pink looks lazily down at her: 
'Dear little Tat,' says Pinkle Purr.

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be"

The last page when the son reads it to his daughter.
The book makes me cry EVERY time I read it. My ds calls it 'the book which makes you cry'

My favourite Winnie the Pooh

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think"

And also the epitome of " roots and wings" from mole in the wind in the willows

He saw clearly how plain and simple – how narrow, even – it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one’s existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.

'Daddy! My Daddy!' or was that just in the film?

Pinkle Purr by A. A. Milne. It always makes me so emotional. (Just like this thread 😭)

Nettjarp hope you are ok...

I love Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman.

Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, free from unkindness and fear.
Let her tell stories and dance in the rain, somersault, tumble & run,
Her joys must be high as her sorrows are deep.
Let her grow like a weed in the sun.

Judith Kerr's My Henry. I can't remember by heart, but the line where she likes best of all to remember their life together and how lovely it was. So poignant.