The Snail and the Whale... sniff

[BlueRaincoat1]

I have a 4 yr old and a 19 month old. DH bought the Snail and the Whale in the supermarket the other day, we have a few Julia Donaldson books but I'd never read this one before.
Was busy reading it to the 19 month old, I was liking the nice flowing rhymes, when it got to the bit about the Snail saving the Whale- I had to stop for about 30 seconds to compose myself. Wtf? And then I stayed pretty choked up til the end. And the exact same thing happened when I read it again.
Please tell me I'm not alone - does anyone else find this book emotional? It's taken me very by surprise, the Gruffalo and A Squash and a Squeeze don't have this affect!

I love the Snail and the Whale - it never made me weepy though. Stickman and Paperdolls on the other hand - tears and snot everywhere.

I'm Stickman, I'm Stickman, I'm Stickman, that's me...

But I hated all Beatrix Potter which DD made me read every night for months.

@ClubfootMaestro the kind granny has died but lives on in the little girl’s memory.

I can barely get through The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers. It’s wonderful.

I googled "I love you forever" to try and work out the tune.
I found an interview with the author (where he sings the song) discussing his inspiration for it: he and his wife has two stillborn babies and he wrote it for them.
Even thinking about the book makes me a bit teary.

@NoShitHemlock

I always keep a copy of No matter what, in my classroom even though it always makes me well up.

And I can't read a story called Little Baa. The lamb loses his mummy and is lost as it gets dark. Such a worry. His mummy does find him in the end.

Oh god, Paper Dolls. We got it out of the library when DD was only a few months old and I was a snivelling wreck.

The Giving Tree gives me the rage. The tree needs the bloody freedom program to LTB!

@bookworm14

You should have warned us! Oh my goodness. Sobbing now.

And another one for Owl babies. And she came! Sob

I love reading The Snail and the Whale it's beautiful.
I have never felt like crying though I just think it's a nice story.
I'm a wreck since I had kids though, so many things make me tearful it's embarrassing.
Even reading threads like this sometimes make me feel weepy and half the time I don't even know what I'm crying about!

@RightOnTheEdge I'm the same. I legit had a little moment in my car the day other cos there was an ambulance with sirens on and everyone in a big line of traffic pulled over quickly And when they did the Santa sleigh round our neighbourhood, I had full on big tears at seeing Santa and DH had to take DD out

@TitianaTitsling

And the one " l love you forever, l like you a lot, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be" full on snottery sobs!!

Which is this please?

Snail and the Whale made me tearful every time

Moonflower12 oh yes Owl Babies!
My children are 8 and 11 now so it's a lovely walk down memory lane reading this thread.

@Moonflower12
We have little baa. It is tear jerking.

I second @marsis. The Girls is beautiful and makes me cry every time. And I'm pretty stony-faced!

JD has given is so much.

I love them all, but Smartest Giant is my very favourite. I love the illustration where the fox is being given a sick to Sleep in when his sleeping bag is wet. There is a cat peering round the tent, and my oldest’s first sentence was “ cat looking round” a she pointed to it. Happy memories. She’s doing her GCSEs now.

DS has a book called No Matter What- always gets me right in the feels.

I also choke up at the snail and the whale- “and how the snail, so small and frail, with her looping curling silvery trail, saved the life of the hump back whale”. See DS, you can do ANYTHING.

"Where The Poppies Now Grow". I'm not a fervent poppy-wearer but this book reduced me to silent sobbing in the corner of the Shuttleworth Collection gift shop. The sales assistant brought me a tissue

Fortunately, my daughter excitedly says "that's you, mummy!" Whenever she sees the cross teacher in the Snail and the Whale, so it helps me not to get too emotional reading it.

Just thinking about the Velveteen Rabbit makes me want to sob.

And she gazed at the sky, the sea, the land, the waves and the caves and the golden sand, she gazed and gazed, amazed by it all, and she said to the whale 'I feel so small'.

That's the bit that chokes me. Every time. And I've been reading it for 12 years now. I actually don't really care for the save the whale scene, it's a bit too silly for me. Still, it's my favourite Julia Donaldson/Scheffler book along side Stick Man. I think a lot of the others are meh, especially Paper Dolls.

Always a bit of a sniffle (sob) at The Snail and the Whale, my all time favourite. I still have all the kids' books, I can't part with them.
Others that made me a weepy were Giraffes Can't Dance, Stickman, The velveteen rabbit, Dear Grandma (Miffy), Badger's Parting Gift...I could go on.

Some of the old tales are the worst though. the Little Match Girl and The Steadfast Tin Soldier should come with a warning.

Fortunately, my daughter excitedly says "that's you, mummy!" Whenever she sees the cross teacher in the Snail and the Whale, so it helps me not to get too emotional reading it.

I love The Snail and The Whale, it's one of my favourites. It doesn't make my well up though.

Paper Doll has however... Was completely unprepared for that one. I grew up best friends with one of my cousins, and she died when we were in our early twenties. That notion of something from your childhood being gone but living on... Christ I'm sobbing just thinking about it now.

Read through the whole thread to see if anyone mentioned The Heart and the Bottle and it was on this last page. Literally couldn't get through reading it to DS. But loved it.

Don't have quite the same reaction to The Snail and the Whale but definitely understand why some do.

But Guess How Much I Love You just gives me the rage. I "lost" DC1's copy and another turned up. I hate it. The smug dad pissing all over all his son's attempts to be clever and impress him. Even when the kid's asleep he has to have the last word. I can only bear to read it if I insert sarcastic additions to each line.

I dont think I've given as much thought to the snail and the whale or paper dolls . Ds fave books at the moment are "town" (smartest giant) and "squeeze" (squash and a squeeze) which arent quite as emotional. I really dont like Cave Baby or Tyrannasaurus (that's not spelt right) Drip.

I've always loved Guess How Much I Love You and made sure ds had a copy when he was born, hes not so into it though.

Some Dogs Do always hurts my heart a bit when the other dogs laugh at him and I think the teacher tells him to stop telling lies and he is really sad after school at home