Creepy Kids Books for Creepy Kids
This is interesting: in my parents’ Facebook group, I asked for children’s books that worried me a little . I got about 300 answers – from a group that usually gives about nine or ten answers to the average parenting question. ( Q: Why isn’t she eating? A: Maybe she’s not hungry. Q: Why doesn’t she go to bed? A: Because she’s a demon spawn .)
It turns out that people have opinions about disturbing children’s books. Obviously, there are many creepy readings – even setting aside serious issues like the dire racial and gender issues of the so-called classics , there are still a lot of things to be a little scared off as a child. Now, not everyone will agree on what worries – some parents think that ” Blueberries for Sal” is an unacceptable portrayal of rather weak parenting. (Okay, she lets her baby get lost among the hungry bears, but he’s still a favorite in our house.) I personally think Runaway Bunny is a little weird and haunted, but others like it.
But there are some books that everyone agrees just off.
the little Mermaid
She gives up her voice to be with a guy. This was problematic in the original fairy tale , in the 1989 Disney films, and in the book Step Into Reading for novice readers. Experience literary delights in the terrifying scene of a mermaid having her tongue cut out: “But if you take my voice away,” the little mermaid said, “what is left for me?”
“Your beautiful shape, your graceful gait and expressive eyes; Of course, they can bind a man’s heart, ”says the witch.
Step Into Reading claims to allow children ages 4-6 to “relive the magic” of a Disney movie when by magic we mean the masculine gaze and Faustian deals.
Now you can say, “But this is a classic!” Yes! Do you know what else is a classic? Patriarchy.
Green ribbon
So, this story from a collection called ” In a Dark, Dark Room” also refers to the article “I Can Read!” book. The Green Ribbon story has obviously scared generations of readers – Buzzfeed published an article “ For Anyone Who Still Fucked Up With This Ribbon Girl Story” – and it’s still available to scare kids 1-3 classes. In the story, Jenny always wears a green ribbon around her neck and refuses to tell her friend Alfred, later her husband, why. Until Jenny and Alfred live to old age, at which point I think she thinks, ” Oh my gosh , how are you or me – about not shaving your legs,” and lets him untie the ribbon – and her head falls to the floor . This is some gothic shit, my friends. Don’t do this to a first grader.
The meanest word
Also a book for beginners, this is a kid’s take on the Tens game, in which kids on the playground compete to say nasty things to each other and Little Bill needs to figure out how to play with other kids while staying true to himself. Sounds okay, right? This is Bill Cosby . (Shiver.)
Curious George
Full disclosure: We have this book, so it doesn’t bother me that much. Still, the first scene in which the Man in the Yellow Hat kidnaps George from Africa always makes me flinch: where is George’s mother? What about her story? It can now be argued, and I’m sure some of you will, that many children’s books have dead, careless, or absent parents for some reason – that children should experience independence, adventure, and risk taking in an imaginary world. books. I can hear you, but nevertheless, George’s abduction always sends bitter pain to my heart.
Bad mood and stick
This is Lemony Snicket’s new picture book . It got my attention when writer Justina Ireland tweeted a key plot point in the story, which was that a white man takes off his pants in front of a woman of color when she protests , but that’s okay because she later marries him. I think now is not the right time for such a book.
Please give me a chance
Speaking of pants, did you know that Bill O’Reilly wrote a children’s book ? Oh yes, he did it. He co-wrote it with James Patterson and it talks about good manners! In fact, in the introduction, he writes: “Believe it or not, James and I were once children. Life was much easier in those days because there were rules that most Americans followed. ” AAAAAAA! This is some creepy shit from a creepy dude.
Rainbow fish
This is a story about a beautiful fish covered with silvery scales . But no one in the ocean will play with him if he does not give up his beautiful scales. So … he does. He gives up everything beautiful and unique in order to be accepted by others. Now, you might argue that he learned that sharing the beauty and the unique in him is a generous business, and well, I understand that. But I still think this is a big bummer.
Millions of cats
This one was published in 1928 and is still in print today, so you think that would be great, right? Well, this is not much different from the 19th century moral tales that pervade children’s literature (such as The Red Shoes , another horrific and punitive tale by Hans Christian Andersen) in the sense that the punishment for vanity is death. However, this time the story is about cats, not girls: an elderly couple decides to adopt a cat, and the husband goes in search of a cute kitten.
Okay, so far so good. But then he finds millions of millions of cats and cannot decide which one is the most beautiful, so they all go home with him. Then the wife decides to choose, asking the cats “which of you is the most beautiful”, and at this moment all the cats kill each other in a frantic hand-to-hand fight for who is the most beautiful.
The illustrations in this book are pretty pretty, and it did win Newbury, so here it is, but … any book that ends with a lot of dead pets is a little unsettling.
The day the babies crawled away
This is the same author as 10 Minutes Till Bedtime and Goodnight Gorilla , both huge favorites in our house (although one mom friend disagrees with Goodnight Gorilla , pointing out that Mrs. seems the much more competent of the two). So I was surprised to see this on the parent list. It’s a little unsettling, just as the story of the Pied Piper is a bit unsettling – it’s about babies who just get up and leave their families en masse (while their parents are enjoying a pie-eating contest, which I think is a metaphor for our finding there are too many on our phones). Which may not bother the kids too much, but the very dark illustrations that resemble eerie mangrove swamps and conjure up Southern Gothic literature, combined with the narrative “this is the day all your kids just got up and left,” made me flinch …
Generous tree
Many mothers hate this book. I hate this book, in which a loving tree gives shade and comfort to a little boy who grows up and takes her leaves, apples, twigs and finally her whole being, leaving him only a stump so he can sit down. It sounds too much like a real parenting experience for my taste. And yet – this is Shel Silverstein, whom I love, and a wise friend-mother told me that this caused good discussions in her children about selfishness and dedication and about too much. I mean, The Gift Tree doesn’t have to be a guide to life, I understand that. It still saddens me when the mother, that is, the tree, is chopped to pieces.
Ultimately, what worries one child or parent overlaps with others. Ping story ? All the stories about Shokhead Peter ? Your mileage may vary. Just don’t give anyone red shoes .