Tree House Academy Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I gave my 8 year old an "easy book" to read for DITHR this time. He flew through it and we were enjoying the story of Little Willy gearing up for the race with his beloved dog Searchlight...and then ds read the end. I gasped (totally didn't see that coming) and ds started BAWLING! He cried for most of the day after that...any time he thought of the book. There should be a warning on that book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I gave my 8 year old an "easy book" to read for DITHR this time. He flew through it and we were enjoying the story of Little Willy gearing up for the race with his beloved dog Searchlight...and then ds read the end. I gasped (totally didn't see that coming) and ds started BAWLING! He cried for most of the day after that...any time he thought of the book. There should be a warning on that book! My ds cried at the end, too. It's the first book that has broken his heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 DD read that book years ago and STILL brings it up to use against me. Strangely enough, books where people die do not affect her nearly as strongly. :confused: Pegasus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
learningmama Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 We haven't read it, but have come across other books that my 8 yo dd cries at. She's very sensitive anyway, but I don't think it's good for kids this age to have to read things that make them cry. We try to stick to happy books for now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in IL Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I cried through the whole end. It was awful and wonderful all at once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Bridge to Terebithia is like that, too. Forewarned is forearmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in OR Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I pre-read the book as I sat in our van waiting for the family to run some errands. I sat in the parking lot and tears came to my eyes at the end. Then with that knowledge of the story, I did it as a read-aloud with the kids. It was even worse—tears for me the second time, while trying to read it out loud without choking up. :tongue_smilie: Good book, though. Erica in OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlkmnsgrl Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 My mom tells a story of coming home from school bawling because "Charlotte died" and couldn't get out any other word to explain. Her mom called the teacher worried that a fellow student had passed away only to find out that they'd been reading Charlotte's Web in class. :001_smile: I do think kids should be old enough to talk through sad endings before they're subjected to them, though I think that's really dependent on the kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Thankfully, that was one of the books that I decided to pre-read when we did SL 3. I was upset by the ending, and I promptly hid the book where the kids wouldn't find it. I think it's so much easier to handle a death in the middle of the book than one that just throws it at you on the last page. You don't get any resolution at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Yes, but Charlotte gives ample warning about her impending death--in Stone Fox, it's a real blindside! I was like, What the Heck!! Totally didn't see it coming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Julie of the Wolves tears me up! Ds and I found it quite depressing! I won't let dd read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Oh, yes. DD read that a couple of years ago and just sobbed at the end. Very, very sad book. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I remember that book, my kids actually yelled at me when we got done, "Mom, how could you read us a book like that. That wasn't very nice" I'm now more careful about our selections. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virg Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) I haven't read Stone Fox but I just asked DS11 about it as it is one of his favorites. He just told me it wasn't sad at all :001_huh: but someone gets stabbed with a knife :confused: Maybe my child should be in counseling or something... I just sent him to get it so I could read it! ETA: I just read the last chapter and was like omg this isn't sad DS!?!? He says well I guess the dog dies but the ending is very nice with the very nice Indian man. Edited February 16, 2012 by ds4159 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennifersLost Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I haven't read that one. The whole Anne of Green Gables series, however, has something tragic in EVERY, SINGLE Book. Very appropriate for the times - very well handled - but it became a running joke with my boys (we read the whole series one year) that I would cry during every book. (I mean, deaths, miscarriages, abusive relationships!?!) Finally, at the end I think I did manage to get through one without crying - but only because I completely steeled my heart. Sheesh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Thanks for the warning everyone. I was going to get that one for ds who would not like it at all. We have done sad read alouds, but Nothing at all sad for his read reading time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 My girls can handle some sad books, but Stone Fox was a bad experience here. Oldest dd was fairly hysterical and seemed traumatized. She brought it up for years. Youngest dd was devastated. She was so, so sad to have read the book. :sad: There are only a couple of books I regret letting my kids read, and that is one of them. Often my girls will label books as "good sad". For whatever reason, Stone Fox wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustybug Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Bridge to Terebithia is like that, too. Forewarned is forearmed. No kidding! I sobbed like a baby the first time I read that book. It remains my favorite childhood read hands down. I still have the copy that I owned back then on my bookshelf now. When the movie came out, I was seven months pregnant with my 2nd and extremely hormonal. My DH took my oldest out for awhile to give me a breather and I watched it. Holy cow. I cried like someone had gone and shot my mother. I was sobbing through a box of kleenex when he walked in the door and looked at me like I was crazy. :lol: We haven't read Stone Fox yet, but it sits on our shelf for next year. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) My dd8 liked Stone Fox, but it did make her cry a little. She wrote an epilogue for the book on my blog. Edited February 16, 2012 by pw23kids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 My DD just read it and briefly mentioned the death...I don't think she cried. Although, this is the same girl who asked why I was crying at the end of Charlotte's Web. She said..."It's a spider!" :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I actually did read a warning somewhere to not read Stone Fox if you have sensitive kids. I know to avoid that one with my girls. I have one daughter who hates sad things. I told her right off to not read Bridge to Terabithia. I still remember the sobbing and I read it 30 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtney.byrum Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Wow thanks for the warning. That is one of DS's choices for novels for Literature. I think I will preread before he picks that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 No kidding! I sobbed like a baby the first time I read that book. It remains my favorite childhood read hands down. I still have the copy that I owned back then on my bookshelf now. When the movie came out, I was seven months pregnant with my 2nd and extremely hormonal. My DH took my oldest out for awhile to give me a breather and I watched it. Holy cow. I cried like someone had gone and shot my mother. I was sobbing through a box of kleenex when he walked in the door and looked at me like I was crazy. :lol: We haven't read Stone Fox yet, but it sits on our shelf for next year. :) Well, it IS very well written. I read it for the first time as an adult, when dd had formed a very similar friendship with another boy her age. When I got to the death, it was SUCH a shock--no idea it was coming--I couldn't stand to think of the way that she would identify with the friendship and then be so devastated by the book. I told her that she could read it to herself but that I was not going to be reading that one to her because it had some sad parts that I thought might be a problem (understatement of the year there). She didn't read it for years, not until the movie came out and she was old enough to kind of throw it off. My favorite books for children in the upper elementary years are "The Diamond in the Window", "In Place of Katia", and "Number the Stars". "Bridge" could have been on the list, but I don't see any reason to wallow like that. It was unnecessary to the story, and very harrowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hated, hated, hated the ending. :glare: It was a good book up until the end, and I think it would have been much better without the tragedy at the very end. It seemed gratuitous to me, like it was done solely as a dramatic twist, rather than as the best way to end the story. I didn't have ds read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 I agree with you all...this one was so tragic because we were just blindsided by the end. I saw the picture, but I thought maybe the dog collapsed or broke a leg...I would have NEVER thought that his very best friend would be dead! And the wording...something like... "100 yards from the finish line, her heart burst. It was instant. She felt no pain." I actually gasped and ds just immediately started sobbing. He even asked me not to post it on paper back swap because "no one needs to be that sad, mom!" :( My ds 12, who was listening from the other room, came in laughing at both of us for crying. He has empathy issues and did not hear the whole book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heeeeelo Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 I read this book and finished it today it was sad my friend cried because it was so sad and we were reading it with the whole class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heeeeelo Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 It was so sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT! ... new poster has resurrected a very old thread... 😉 🧟♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) On 2/15/2012 at 5:54 PM, JennifersLost said: I haven't read that one. The whole Anne of Green Gables series, however, has something tragic in EVERY, SINGLE Book. Very appropriate for the times - very well handled - but it became a running joke with my boys (we read the whole series one year) that I would cry during every book. (I mean, deaths, miscarriages, abusive relationships!?!) Finally, at the end I think I did manage to get through one without crying - but only because I completely steeled my heart. Sheesh! I will never stop crying for Matthew or Joyce or Walter.... NEVER. And this thread is 8 years old. Edited January 20, 2021 by theelfqueen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 16 hours ago, Lori D. said: ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT! ... new poster has resurrected a very old thread... 😉 🧟♂️ I wonder what’s up with all the spam? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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