Have You Read ... ?

[ChetMC]

Have you read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to any of your children? How old were they? What did they think.

We had a stack of novels for read-alouds and our older DD picked Edward Tulane out of the pile as our next book to read. Our 4.5 year old does not like it. So far, she's found the story very upsetting. The story about the warthog upset her. Edward falling overboard upset her too because Abilene would miss him so much. Our older DD insists that she wants to hear the rest of the book, but I'm concerned that it will get too upsetting for her. The story certainly gets worse before it gets better!

Would you continue reading this book to your 6 year old (when the younger sibling is not around), or would you make the executive decision to wait awhile on this book?

[TEAK's Mom]

I really didn't like that book. I found it heavy-handed and cruel. I'm generally a fan of the author, but I felt like this one was written TO TEACH A LESSON and it just didn't work for us. Dd1 read it on her own and didn't like it either.

[ChetMC]

Okay, but ...

What do you do when you start a book and have doubts about continuing? DD wants to read the rest and I'm not sure we should.

[TEAK's Mom]

Much as I dislike the book, I would probably finish it. My dds are very like me in that they really need to know how a book ends. I have finished some of the most unbelievable garbage because I couldn't stop.

Not finishing the book can give it even more power in her mind ("What could be so terrible that Mom wouldn't even let me hear it?). If she wants to stop at some point, I'd stop, but otherwise....well...it can be a good starting point for some literary criticism.