I’m not a crier, never have been. I’m the one laughing at you for crying during a sappy movie. I’m also the one who finds “I’ll Love You Forever” extremely creepy and not a little perverse. It is the ultimate helicopter parent who drives down the road to their adult son’s house, climbs up a ladder to sneak a peek through the window, and then climbs in for a cuddle if their grown kid is asleep. What the hell Mr.Munsch?!
However, if I have to read “The Cat in the Hat” or “Green Eggs and Ham” or “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” one more time before bedtime, I really will cry. They’re impressive pieces of writing and even though I am frequently in awe of Dr.Seuss’ rhyming and storytelling ability (with the exception of the slightly awkwardly written “And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street”), I’d like to know why he had to make his books so damn long! I’m not interested in reading a 60 page bedtime story.
I have been known to hide books on more than one occasion. I hide the ones that make me cry, because I can’t stand to read them any more.
Which books make you cry? Have you ever hidden books that you’re sick of reading to your kids?
My daughter is obsessed with a Disney Princess book that has, like, no words. She’s pointing at random crap and then when we turn the page, she goes all Exorcist on us. I’m going to BURN that book!
Sounds excruciating.
“I Love You Forever,” definitely creepy city. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it has that page at the end where the old mother goes into her grown son’s room to rock him to sleep? That’s like the sequel to The Ring or something! I picked it up for my kids many years ago because it sounded sweet. By the end, my kids and I were totally creeped out!
That’s the one!
Still gives me shivers!
You’re looking at “I Love You Forever” adult eyes. You need to look at it through FREAKING WEEPING TEAR-DRENCHED EYES! Every time.
No thank you.
Oh man – ‘Love you Forever’ gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. I bawl like a damn baby – not creeped at all. I’m an over-emotional basket case sometimes. The kiddos ask me to read it to them because a) it’s a special book between us, and b) they get a hoot out of laughing at me when I start to tear up at the EXACT same moment every time. Personally, I think it’s a little more of reason ‘b’ than reason ‘a’. Stinkers.
You’re clearly a sap!
Not even gonna try to hide it!
I cannot read the “Love You Forever” book. I just can’t. We were gifted that book twice, so it seems like it’s everywhere. Isn’t that the same guy who wrote the not-so-tearful Paper Bag Princess?
I’m with you on the Seuss, except for me it’s Fox on Socks. Too many tongue twisters too late at night. And you’re right. They are all too long. I had at least half of “The Cat in the Hat” memorized when Emilia was two-and-a-half. I still like it, but it’s a “sometimes” book. Those board books with two words on each page or anything by Karen Katz? Those are anytime books. Gah, I feel lazy.
It’s not lazy, it’s efficient.
We have this “How much is that doggie in the window” book that always makes me weep at page 46… seven years later, still.
Wait until you’re reading bedtime novels and the kids negotiate that you keep on reading until page 198.
I really hope they’re reading to themselves at that point. At least it won’t be the same story night after night.
I avoid “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.” I can’t believe how long it takes to get through it.
We’ve got a bunch of dinosaur books that cause me brain pain. I think I’ve hidden all the cars and trucks books or shuffled them off to the thrift store by now.
The one we have is “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go” by Richard Scarry. That guy can cram more words on a page than Dostoyevsky can.
That sounds awful… would your kid notice if you whited out some of the words and pictures?
He notices when we skip a page. He has the damn thing memorized. Jeez…
5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. You have to read the SAME thing five times. Torture. Especially if my kid wants to reread it.
I saw variations of that book in the bookstore the other day and thought, clearly we are into inflicting unnecessary pain on ourselves.
Ok, start laughing (at me), but On The Day You Were Born, makes me cry every time. And my kids are 23, 20 and 16 now. I read it in their classroom each year for their birthdays, and when I skim it in a book store, I still well up. Ok, go ahead. Laugh. (But play a Raffi CD, and it makes me cry for all the reasons you’re looking for!)
I haven’t read that one, but my cold cold heart may still resist shedding any tears unless they’re of pain.
I get it. I generally have a heart of stone, myself… but admit to a few weaknesses.
I’ll Love You Forever is creepy. And it made me cry the one and only time I read it. We were at our future daughter-in-law’s house and her 3yo niece asked me to read it to her. I predicted the ending and couldn’t finish it without a tissue. My mother-in-law died a few weeks earlier which added fuel to the tear factory.
Yep, that’ll bring on the tears. Very sorry for your loss.