A lot of the original versions of the brothers Grimm stories. For example Cinderella, one of the sisters chops off bits of her feet so that she can try and get into the shoe Cinderella dropped. I think the Prince only figured it out because she’s dripping in blood.
the Brothers Grimm versions were not the original versions of any of those fairytales! they were edgy remakes! idk why or how that thinking became so common or why I care so much!
A lot of those were meant to keep children in line. Also to teach girls that the only way they’ll be able to get ahead in life is to marry into money.
But it doesn’t pay off for the stepsister at all. She’s just bleeding, the story is about the triumph of The Grind- Cinderella stuck to virtue, hard work, etc.
Well the lessons there were a) don’t be a conniving bitch, and b) don’t be a stepmom or stepsister.
The children’s bible. /s
The other night I read my son an old children’s book named “Prickly Pie”. He wasn’t traumatized by it but I could easily see a kid getting traumatized by in. In the story a young hedgehog decides to skip school and ends up being hog tied by a sly fox and almost cooked over a fire.
Coraline is pretty intense.
A quote from Neil Gaiman about his editor’s daughter, who served as the book’s first audience
I told her, “You know, we kind of have you to thank for all this, because you weren’t scared by it.” And she said, “Actually, I was terrified. But I wanted to know what happened next. I knew if I let anybody know I was scared, I wouldn’t find out.”
The Little Match Girl.
Not a book, but as a kid I absolutely loved The Land Before Time.
It’s such a terribly sad and traumatizing movie for a young child.
Did anybody else read tangerine as a kid? I still think about it pretty often and I’m 30.
My brother was assigned that in school and we had it in the RV on a camping trip, so I picked it up and read it one evening. Both the info on citrus growing, and the violence, are things I still remember. Fucked up.
Was it assigned reading? Where did you go to school? I’ve always wondered if that book made it into reading lists anywhere outside of Florida.
Yep, assigned reading in Florida
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Actually just the art alone does the traumatizing really.
Have you seen those bullshit rerelease editions? SAD!
I only got traumatized by movies as a kid. Never had any traumatic books, only good, interesting, or really fucking weird ones.
I don’t remember it very well, but I know I cried for like 2 hours when I finished “A Dog Called Kitty.”
Watership Down.
:(
I would say almost all of them. At least the classics
No wonder we’re all empaths. And we used video games to escape our feelings.
= ADHD
Little red riding hood - wolf eats your grandma.
Hansel and Gretel - forced out by stepmother, forced to kill a witch to survive.
Three little pigs - wolf kills your brother’s.The “classics” are really bad
The Giving Tree
You need this: https://www.topherpayne.com/giving-tree
Amazing!! Thanks for sharing!
He fixed some other fairly-problematic titles, too. Check them out on that same site :)
This is great and all, but what I really need is an alternative picture of shel silverstein to put on the back of the book.
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. That author’s imagination was daaaaark.
Antek by Bolesław Prus
Yeah we just gonna shove a kid in the oven for three Hail Marys
