Kids picture books that make you tear up

[BiscuitLover3678]

Stickman and Paper Dolls both by Julia Donaldson.

Also Bye Bye Baby by the Ahlbergs. Dear god! 😭

I can't think of this without remembering the Friends episode, so it lost it's sentiment somewhat!

I came here to say just that.

I read "I'll love you forever" to my 2 Ds and the youngest, not quite 2 at the time, SOBBED. Possibly picked up on my gulping.

We got I’ll Love You Forever as a gift when DC1 was born and it really creeped/creeps me out… I was just like, what the hell is this!! Same person gave us The Giving Tree too which I thought was rubbish too 😬 I get the sentiment of both of course, but just a big nope from me.

One that gets me is My Dad by Charles Fuge

My middle child loved it ... it's all these attributes his (bear) dad has linked to other animals eg 'as strong as ... an elephant'

I was often reading it to DS as his dad was coming home from work & he'd come up the stairs at the end; sadly, this dad was crap & abusive & now mostly absent. He's made life hell for us (though now we are all doing fine). I get a lump in my throat every time I see the book remembering that little boy so devoted to his dad, and how I wished things had worked out differently.

https://www.google.com/search?q=my+dad+book+is+the+toughest&rlz=1CDGOYIenIE816IE816&hl=en-GB&prmd=sivn&sxsrf=ALiCzsZ7QDxBSPQx1KKRkYC4FSvoaT2xjQ:1668799272972&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikqPfeubj7AhUhkFwKHQBUD2QQAUoAnoECAIQAg&biw=375&bih=553&dpr=2#imgrc=esiUbznYhUpTNM

i work in a school Nursery and also have three boys of my own. I’ve had to retreat to the bathroom for a little cry, I love all the books mentioned and have struggled to read them without crying both at work and home!

Meant to post an image not a link

Another vote for Paper Dolls, one of her best.
Plus there is a book called Quaky Cat written to raise money in the aftermath of the ChristChurch Earth quake. It was a gift and it takes a great deal of control not to sob through the end of the that one.
(The cat gets scared away during the quake and then travels back to find his owner, really shouldn't be that tear inducing, but gets me every time!)

The Polar Express. The bit at the end where the boy says: 'At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.'

Makes me sob. Dh has to read it.

What? I knew there was something but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. So the gorilla is her dad? But was it all a dream?

Every kids book ever that has something sweet happen (so every children's book ever )

But especially 'the patchwork cat' it was my book when I was little and DD loves it. But I just can't. Usually I can hold it in but I can't for that one.

SPIOLER ALERT!

For anyone that doesn't know it - The cat has a patchwork blanket, but it's dirty and ratty and Mummy throws it away. But the cat finds it in the dustbin and goes to sleep on it and then the bin lorry comes and cat and blanket end up in the bin lorry and at the tip. Puss drags that blanket miles, eventually she sees the milkman and follows him until she gets to her house. And Mummy washes the blanket and its all OK.

Except me, I'm in floods by the time she finds the blanket in the bin. Never mind the rest. I'm welling up now. It's hopeless

I refuse to acknowledge the existence of Goodbye Mog.

Guess how much I love you

@ncncncnc123

The gorilla manifested all the things she longed to do with her dad, and the relationship she wished for (he was too distracted with work to so them). Happily, at the end, her dad really does make time for her.

It's lovely.

I don't want to piss on anyone's bonfire but I loathe this mawkish book. Imagine being the daughter-in-law, with the mum slithering into your bedroom to rock your husband. 😯

'Once there were Giants' on the other hand....❤

Came on to say Paper Dolls! Lol. My voice always goes a bit choked up on the little girl's memory page while DD sits there totally unmoved and oblivious.

Oliver Jeffers the heart in the bottle!

Little Beauty. Because the gorilla was so lonely and then he found a friend 😭😭😭

Ah paper dolls is so sad! Also the book before you sleep as it has such a sad story behind it.

The Bog baby

’and a mother with a baby just like him’ with the image of his mum and father in wartime uniform 😢 I’m tearing up just thinking about it!
Paper dolls makes me cry every time

Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs. So many memories of reading it to my gorgeous boys, who are now all grown up.

I Love You, Little Monster makes me cry every time, but I just love it. ‘So when you fall down my sweetheart, look up to the sky without fear, for sometimes we need to be flat on our backs before starlight begins to appear’

The Girls by Lauren Ace

I just can't read it without welling up, it isn't even sad but somehow the strength of their female friendship seeing them through life, it gets me every time

Peepo - absolutely love it. And many of the others that have been mentioned
Where the Wild Things Are....... "and it was still hot"

"Annie Rose is my Little Sister" - Alfie book by Shirley Hughes.

The ending: "...I'm the only person who can cheer her up. Because she's my little sister, and I'm her brother, and we'll go on being that forever... even until we're grown-up."
But it's not just the words that make it so moving, it's also the beautiful illustrations alongside them.

The first time I read it to DS and DD (similar ages to Alfie and Annie-Rose in the book) I was in bits.

Oh yes - the "My Little Sister" books. I'd forgotten.