Do books for little children ever make you cry?

[PrettyCandles]

I'm a soft moo - Once There Were Giants sets me off every time.

Oh Lord yes - Peter Pan. Where he comes back to the window but his mother has another baby now . . .

Stubbornstains, really?

Article about Allan Ahlberg

Saddest thing about Allan A was that Janet died so young

I bought Goodbye Mog after reading a thread like this a few years ago on MN (on which I also wallowed in unashamed misery re 'How Much do I love you?' as did many others)

Am now bracing myself for another traumatic session with The Little house on the Prairie, one of my favourites as a child, which I am now reading to my children.

Mr Edwards crossing the creek naked with his clothes on his head to bring Laura and Mary their presents from Father Christmas brought on a near collapse, exacerbated by further revelations of Ma and Pa wriniging his cold wet hand, speechless with gratitude.

Speaking of which...I may be some time.

thanks for the link Waltraut, really interesting.

so sad about Janet! Now I will cry when I read The Baby's Catalogue and Each Peach Pear Plum as well as Peepo!

Goodnight Mr Tom got me.

A friend read it to her class without reading it herself first... bad idea.

Ok maybe it's an older children's book but.... Black Beauty.

The bit where the cart trundles past on the way to the knackers yard with Gingers head hanging over the side...

And Little Women. Beth......father coming home... Oh my Lordy what a wailer

Sophie's masterpiece. Actually had to stop reading it aloud to DN because I was so choked with tears.

Owl Babies.......

"What's all the fuss? You knew I'd come back"!!!

I've read a quarter of this thread and realised I m a tough old bitch.

You cry at Peepo and Dogger? Stick Man? Owl babies? Good lord I am a nasty person. I never even twitched.

'Blueberry Girl' by Neil Gaiman.

It's about mums and daughters and growing up and what life throws at women, in about twenty lines

I read it to DD(4) (with much nose-blowing and clearing of throat) and asked her, What d'you think the author wants for his little girl?
DD: Um...to have some blueberries?

So maybe more for adults than kids...

Thank you for this thread, it made me well up and I haven't even read those books yet. Just started s long amazon wish list though....
Has anyone read Someday?www.amazon.co.uk/Someday-Alison-McGhee/dp/1416928111/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2OOGQBPAKC0TB&colid=8RJU2XIYCLIE
lLooks like a potential tear jerker!!

Thank you for this thread, it made me well up and I haven't even read those books yet. Just started s long amazon wish list though....
Has anyone read Someday?www.amazon.co.uk/Someday-Alison-McGhee/dp/1416928111/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2OOGQBPAKC0TB&colid=8RJU2XIYCLIE
lLooks like a potential tear jerker!!

My ds aged 2 burst into tears tonight at we are going on a bearhunt- at the last page when the bear looks all solemn- ds was inconsolable!

Ahh, Goodbye Mog...very difficult to read and left us all in tears. But absolutely fantastic in helping to explain to DD that her brother wasn't coming home.

I actually can't get through Dr Seuss without cracking.

"Oh, the places you?ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You?ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don?t. Because, sometimes, they won?t.

I?m afraid that some times you?ll play lonely games too. Games you can?t win ?cause you?ll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you?ll be quite a lot."

We also too 'No Matter What' out of the library.

Both of my parents have died and I am often sideswiped by such things. They should come with a bloody great sticker on the front

Voice wobbles a bit in Owl Babies.

DS (who is 5) announced last week, when reading Bear Hunt with DS2 that they didn't really go on a bear hunt at all, it was just a story they told from underneath the covers about the little girl's teddy .

On the night you were born is an amazing book, I dare you not to well up!
www.amazon.co.uk/Night-You-Were-Born/dp/0312346069/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317365069&sr=1-1

I came on here to say wibblys big bear. I asked my brother to get dd some wibbly books for xmas last year. We met up over new year and in a pub she opened them including the big bear. I said oh lord i cant read this one!

My mum snorted saying dont be ridiculous its a kids book and read it. She promptly burst into tears, me too, and all the men looked forlorn saying is he dead? Is he dead?

The worst book was a victorian book my nan had called froggys little brother. It had me crying so much i couldnt catch my breath. About a little 6 year old who loses his parents and has to sweep crossings to support his baby brother benny. Til benny gets ill.. Wail!

I always assume that Wibbly Pig's Silly Big Bear is "about" having an older sibling/classmate with learning disabilities and a short life expectancy, I don't know whether I'm right about that, but it has me in pieces.

All the time, Yes to Oh The Places You'll Go, and even some of the Julia Donaldsons (Tiddler, Charlie Cook - why?) although the one I just can't read anymore is Oscar Wilde's Selfish Giant. Wet eyes just thinking about it!

For little kids, Goodbye Mog.
For bigger kids Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird. I was maybe about 9 when I first read it, still have my copy 20 yrs later and have cried every time I have read it.

DD picked up No Matter What from the library the other day.

I read it aloud and had to stifle the sobs.

DH thinks I'm quite mad.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey gets me every time it is now a family sport to see when I will go! Also agree with Dogger, Goodbye Mog, Once There Were Giants and Bye Bye Baby. We have a lovely book called The Year in the City which goes through the year in verse with gorgeous illustrations. The last lines chokes me every time "Here's January again. The years keep turning." It's that passing of time thing, I fear!