Little Match Girl - too sad for little kids?

[Poddi]

I just ordered that book for my boys (6 and 8) and now I'm not so sure if I want them to read it yet. I read it when I was little and thought it was a good story that everybody should read. Though I grew up in a harsh environment where poverty and child abuse were quite common, so I wasn't particularly sensitive to sad stories. Two of my playmates died when I was 6. My kids however are sensitive and don't know much about the tragic side of life. I'm just afraid they would be horrified. Plus we're an atheist family so to my kids, there's only death, no heaven - which was the only comfort in the story.

What would you do?

[Thalia the Muse]

I don't know about your kids, but it's too sad for ME.

[Daffodil]

We have a complete collection of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales, so out of curiosity I just read The Little Match Girl to my almost 7 year old, who is not super sensitive, to see what she would think. She didn't like it much - too boring and too sad.

[KiwiZ]

My advice is to trust your gut - if you don't feel they are quite ready, wait a bit. IIRC, the Disney Little Mermaid DVD (the one with all the extras on it) has a very beautiful version of The Little Match Girl that was true to the original story. I was sobbing at the end of it, it was just so beautifully done.

[hookahgirl]

My mom had tha story on CD and forgot to turn it off one year during x-mas tree decorating...lets just say my brother and I spent the whole day crying..and her explaining..I wouldnt go there!

[JessicaS]

I would rather my dd read something a little scary than horrifically sad. She would be completely hysterical. She doesn't do sad well.

[meemee]

would you read giving tree to your sons?

i find that book equally if not more sad.

yes i would read it to them. they are a perfect age for that book.

i read it around 6 and it has always been my favourite story. it made me v. sad but there was beauty in it.

however i also noticed i didnt get all the nuances at the same time. what i got out of that story at 6 is not the same when i reread it at 8.

[Needle in the Hay]

I read it to my DS shortly before he turned 8. We also read Bluebeard around the same time, now that is a creepy story, but my DS liked it. He did find The Little Match Girl to be very sad but we also talked about why the story was written, what the author probably hoped people would learn from it (compassion, awareness...) and that seemed to soften the sadness of it.

When I was 5 I had the original version of The Little Mermaid (sad ending) as a book-on-tape and loved it.

[Smokering]

I used to tell that story to my little sisters every night. Um... I'm not sure why. They liked it and didn't seem too traumatised. Maybe they didn't get it, though.

Heaven is kind of implied in the story IIRC, so they can probably find comfort in it as part of the story regardless of your personal beliefs (just like they might find Frodo going to Valinor at the end of LOTR comforting, if you're LOTR fans). After all, the girl herself is fictional, so it's not like you have to end the story with "But in real life she lay there rotting on the ground, suckers! Now go to bed."

[Belle]

I haven't read it to my daughters yet but I know that made me cry as a child. I don't wish that it hadn't been read to me though.