Book choices

A funny thing about Naomi that I’ve been meaning to share:  she does not like suspense or conflict or adversity in her stories these days.  We had to stop Doctor Doolittle, because she was sure that trouble was coming for him.  She refused to let me read more.  Michael has been trying to finish reading The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, with her, but she won’t let him read any more to her.  We have been reading Thornton Burgess books to her, which are about creatures of the forest, and Michael keeps having to read ahead to assure her that no, the little otter does NOT get eaten by the bobcat.  No, the little otter does NOT get trapped.  No, the little otter does NOT get eaten by the coyote. 

I read The Velveteen Rabbit to her – I should say that I started to read it to her, and then had to stop, because she was sure something bad was going to happen – he was going to get his eyes loved off.  Then she kept looking at the pictures and wanted to know what the fairy was, so I told her I’d read her the story to find out.  She let me read the rest of it, and although there were some tense moments when it looked like the rabbit was going to get burned (he doesn’t, in the end), I thought we’d made it through okay. 

Then I found her crying on the couch.  “What’s wrong?”

“He never went back to the little boy, and what would he do without his bunny?”

I tried to explain about the new bunny, about the boy not needing him anymore, about how he went back and checked on the boy, who was doing well.  It didn’t matter.

“That was a sad story.”

She has a soft heart, and isn’t ready for the tragedies and conflicts.  A soft heart is a good thing, and we have to remember not to trample on her sensibilities in our eagerness to share with her the stories we love.