Frindle — Andrew Clements
Yes, this is a book about a pen, but it’s more than that. It’s the story of a teacher challenging a student to grow, and I’ll forever be a softie when it comes to themes like this.
Pink and Say — Patricia Polacco
Just try and read the passage without weeping: “This is the hand, that has touched the hand, that has touched the hand, that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln.” Then try it in front of a room of seventh graders.
The House at Pooh Corner — A. A. Milne
Charolotte’s Web – E. B. White
The picture of friendship White creates is right on.
Brian’s Winter — Gary Paulsen
Like Frindle, this might seem like another strange choice. Somehow I was saddened to see this phase of Brian’s life end. His rescue was necessary, but that meant (before Paulsen wrote the rest of the series) Brian’s story was over.
What children’s books made you cry?
Great choices. I’d add The Secret Garden, one of my favorites as a child. It didn’t make me cry at the end but some of the middle parts were sad.
Charlotte’s Web made me cry for sure. I still don’t kill spiders because of Charlotte.
The book Plain Kate made me cry and also The Graveyard Book.
at the end of PINK AND SAY the storyteller asks that you speakk Say’s name out loud so he won’t be forgotten. when i was an elementary school librarian, i used to finish that book by having the kids speak his name back to me.
great book.
— Tom
I really enjoyed Frindle.
But a book I’ve read fairly recently that made me cry was Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. It made me laugh, too.
I’m not a real cryer…even movies rarely get me tearing up. But the funny thing is, read a book aloud, and I’m hopeless. I blubbered when I read aloud Cheaper by the Dozen, Holes…lots of others. Luckily the people I’m reading to cry as well, so maybe they don’t notice so much…
Loved Frindle! I’d completely forgotten about it, though.
I cried reading Holes, Pooh, and Charlotte, too. Even some of the Prydain books made me cry. Those were my favorites.
Tere, I didn’t know you liked Prydain! I’ve been meaning to re-read…
I just finished Waiting for Normal, and while it didn’t make me cry, it broke my heart. Any book where the parent is unable to truly parent just breaks me up.
Andrea, I’ll have to look into Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.
I’m not a very emotional person. (My husband will tell you I have clogged tear ducts.) But I loved Savvy by Ingrid Law and thought the ending was especially sweet.
I HATE to cry, I want books that make me laugh. That being said I adored Frindle (and pretty much anything else by Andrew Clements), The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, The Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett, and Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.
None of these books are funny and I love them dearly. But they don’t make me cry.
I loved all these books! I have the original very OLD Pooh Corner books I’ve passed on to my girls.
I bawl every time I read Island of the Blue Dolphins. And Summer to Die (by Lois Lowry). And Jacob Have I Loved (Katherine Patterson). Must be a sibling rivalry/survival thing.
Oh, so many!
I’m reading Charlotte’s Web to my kids right now.
Walk Two Moons made me cry. So did Kira-Kira.
I just saw your comment about Waiting for Normal. That was a hard book to read. I don’t think I cried, either, but it was very moving.
Amy
If I cry, it’s a Very Good Book. I love experiencing a book so deeply and crave the experience. Most recently: Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt
Irene, I loved The Wednesday Wars. Must pick up Okay for Now.
Sometimes I love a good cry. When I was young: Where the Red Fern Grows. Lately, MILO: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze and The Book Thief.
I cry thinking about my favorite PB that I like to read to my six-month-old son. That would be the Dr. Suess classic, OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! I love the message, and I spent the first few days of my son’s life whispering in his ear (to get him to sleep), “Where are you going to go…you can go anywhere you want in your dreams.”
I also cried the first time I read FREAK THE MIGHTY. My students sometimes do as well.
Michael, that’s beautiful. I remember reading a PB about growing up to one of my boys. I burst into tears, then he burst into tears seeing me respond to the story that way.
Pink & Say is #1 on my list! LOVE that book, but I cry EVERY TIME.
Harry Potter 6
Shin’s Tricycle
Faithful Elephants
Fly Away Home
Because of Winn Dixie. I read it to my 4th graders when I taught and just boohooed. I’m about to start reading it with my 8 year old and I’m sure I’ll cry again. I’m weak with any dog book it seems. And Frindle made me cry too. It’s the teacher-student relationship that got me.
I really enjoyed your article of at Steady Mom. Thanks for that.
Erin,
Fellow teachers get the Frindle thing, I think. I don’t remember Winn Dixie being sad (though it’s been a while).
What spawned this post is the fact I’ve just finished Brian’s Winter with my boys. No tears this time, but I could certainly see why it made me cry.
Thanks for the comment about Steady Mom. I wrote that post in the heat of the moment. I’m glad others can relate.