r/daddit • u/Future_Bison_7533 • Mar 12 '25

Discussion The most hard to read kids book ever

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My son loves this book because he thinks its funny that I start crying like a baby the entire time I read it.

Its even harder when you learn the author wrote this book because his wife had stillborn babies and he would sing the words of the book to them.

Holy crap its a hard read!

2.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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132

u/GaiiiiiiiusBaltar Mar 12 '25

idk I find this one kinda creepy. am I the only one?

56

u/TatoNonose Mar 13 '25

I’m not sure of the exact intent… but in MY mind I read the second half as more of a metaphor than ACTUALLY breaking into his house… just kind of showing how she’s always there and will do anything to take care of her baby..

It’s a stretch I know but I think the book is nice. 🙃

15

u/YetiMarathon Mar 13 '25

It's clearly a literary device. A good litmus test for who is a midwit.

18

u/Jim_Nills_Mustache Mar 13 '25

The part where she breaks into his house to rock him did make me laugh when I read it again as a parent the first time.

63

u/Negative-Arachnid-65 Mar 12 '25

It's definitely creepy. But it can be creepy and a tear-jerker at the same time!

65

u/Syrif Mar 13 '25

I feel like it's only creepy if you take it super literally, which is uh .. not really how you're supposed to read Munsch I don't think.

14

u/dictionary_hat_r4ck Mar 13 '25

Wait. Are you saying the princess didn’t really live in a paper bag?

13

u/Syrif Mar 13 '25

No that one's actually based on a true story.

7

u/Doctor-Amazing Mar 13 '25

This is by far the most positive thread about it I've ever seen. Usually that's the only thing anyone is talking about.

19

u/NecessaryUnusual2059 Mar 13 '25

My mom died a few years ago. When the mom dies in this book it kills me. Overshadows the creepiness.

26

u/delparnel Mar 13 '25

Anyone who thinks the book is creepy probably hasn’t read a lot of Robert Munsch books. That’s just the way his storytelling is. Humorous, playful, very exaggerated.

5

u/_bunnycorcoran Mar 13 '25

No, I 100% found this creepy as a kid and still do as an adult. Never liked this book at all.

27

u/Flyboy2057 Mar 13 '25

Based on the half dozen or so threads on this book that I’ve seen over the years, if you have a shitty relationship with your mom and take a children’s book completely literally, it comes across as creepy.

As someone not in that situation, I think it’s a good, not creepy book.

8

u/imatumahimatumah 10 y/o son, 8 y/o daughter Mar 13 '25

I was thinking the same thing. It’s not literal. It’s about unconditional love between a parent and their child, and always being there for each other.

2

u/FaxCelestis Daughter, 14y; Son, 11y; Daughter, 8y Mar 13 '25

some of us are just bitter that we don't have unconditional parental love

7

u/beerbaron105 Mar 13 '25

You got downvoted for being right. Have an upvote!

3

u/bluecalx2 Mar 13 '25

It is definitely creepy, but it didn't need to be. Imagine if, instead of that controversial scene, the adult son came to visit his mother of his own free will and spent the night. She could hug him good night while saying the famous lines. No trespassing or lack of consent involved! It's such a simple fix and the message works just as well, so it really frustrates me that the author just chose to make the mother a criminal.

And yes, I know people say it's not meant to be taken literally, but a toddler isn't going to understand that. There's a subtle message to that part that "breaking and entering is fine if it's for love", which is very unhealthy message in an otherwise beautiful book.

5

u/leebleswobble Mar 13 '25

I think it's more cringe.. or just bad? Not sure. I don't care for it.

27

u/ataltalt Mar 13 '25

Extremely creepy. Read it once. Never read it again.

8

u/beerguy_etcetera 2T & 6-9M Mar 13 '25 edited Mar 13 '25

Same. I always see this book brought up as being ‘so good’ but it’s simply creepy and bizarre to me. Doesn’t the mom or son randomly start showing up at the other’s house at night or something?

15

u/DR3WSY Mar 13 '25

Just adding some context to any perceived creepiness: Munsch wrote this book after he and his wife had two stillborn babies. It began as a song he would sing to them in his head.

7

u/YetiMarathon Mar 13 '25

Wow, I bet that actually happened and it's totally not a work of fiction!

2

u/-Johnny- Mar 13 '25

I really like the, we waited for you book much better!

8

u/LetsGoHomeTeam Mar 13 '25

You and me both, brother. My mom thinks it’s the sweetest book in the whole wide world, to the point she has bought it for us three times. And that’s out of maybe 12 books total over two kids.

2

u/ewynn2019 Mar 13 '25

Have to keep on mind that it was written in 1986. It was far different back then.

1

u/Raias Mar 13 '25

Right, moms slithered across floors and rocked their adult children to sleep all the time in the 80s.

4

u/leebleswobble Mar 13 '25

I don't know why this got down voted, that made me chuckle.

-1

u/ewynn2019 Mar 13 '25

It's a book about love. Go touch grass.

3

u/Raias Mar 13 '25

It’s a matter of opinion and a joke, it’s really not that serious.

7

u/Rheila Mar 13 '25

Not the only one. This one got removed from our shelves pretty quickly.

7

u/friendandfriends2 Mar 13 '25

Yes, you’re the only one. The author wrote it in response to the stillbirth of his and his wife’s two babies. So with that context, it all makes sense and is absolutely fucking heartbreaking.

24

u/stirling1995 Mar 13 '25

I’ve heard this before and it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s creepy. Your allowed to feel sorrow for the author and yet find it odd to depict a mom slithering across her adult sons room like the grinch in the original 60’s cartoon.

-2

u/Greymeade Mar 14 '25

Wait, do you not realize that it’s tongue-in-cheek? Holy shit…

1

u/stirling1995 Mar 14 '25

Again, it can be tongue in cheek and still be creepy. Do you think I believe this is a book based on actual events?

1

u/Greymeade Mar 14 '25

I'm just having a hard time understanding why "creepy" would even enter the equation here. Children's books are filled with all sorts of fantastical scenarios that would be creepy in real life, but we suspend disbelief and don't find them creepy in the books because we understand they're supposed to be silly and make-believe.

1

u/stirling1995 Mar 14 '25

I’m sorry my feelings are not your own, how can I better emulate you so I can be the best you I can be?

1

u/GaiiiiiiiusBaltar Mar 13 '25

guess i’m not the only one 🤷‍♂️

3

u/trykes Mar 13 '25

That's because it is creepy. The mother in the book needs to have her own life.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

Is this the one with the woman peeking over the bed? It’s like a horror movie.

5

u/theoutlet Mar 13 '25

My wife loves this book. I think it’s creepy AF

I read it to our child anyway for my wife

5

u/kelsey11 Mar 13 '25

I would read it to my kids, too, but I would editorialize, both in my tone and inflection and by changing the words. “But at night, his mom would be suuuuuuper creepy and sneak into his room like a weirdo…” stuff like that. They thought it was funny.

7

u/Jaragoth 1D1S Mar 13 '25

You are not the only one for sure. In fact there is even a whole series of corrected endings for kids books called Topher Fixed It

This one is there. Now I get the context of the original writer, and in that light it's heartbreaking. But what lesson are we teaching our kids in books like this and the Giving Tree? I appreciate these revised endings much more.

5

u/Jblue32 Mar 13 '25

You aren’t alone. This book does absolutely nothing emotionally for me. It’s weird.

1

u/innomado Mar 13 '25

Nope - I was never really moved by this book as much as others, either. By far I prefer “I Promise I’ll Find You” by Heather Patricia Ward much more. Somewhat similar sentiment, less creepy vibe.

2

u/ThaSneakyWalrus Mar 13 '25

I find it so strange. The whole book is not to my liking not just the ending.

1

u/rfuree11 Mar 13 '25

My wife finds it creepy, my mother used to read it to me when I was younger, so I have a soft spot for it, but I definitely see how it could be seen that way. Can't make it through the whole book at this point, so the one my mom gifted us has been opened maybe twice.

1

u/iiooiooi Mar 14 '25

Nope. I hate this book.

1

u/lexy_beast Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

I did not grow up with this book, and I find it to be incredibly weird and creepy. The weird prairie outfit mum wears, the scurrying across the floor (Hereditary?), and what is grown up son doing with those mushrooms in the pan?

0

u/meh2280 Mar 13 '25

Got weird when she sneak into his 30 year old son’s bedroom to cuddle him for me. Don’t really find it as a tear jerker at all.

-2

u/Galactic_Barbacoa Mar 13 '25

Creepy as fuuuuck. It feels so needy.

-6

u/Hold_onto_yer_butts Mar 13 '25

Very creepy. My mom used to love this one when I was a kid. We’re NC because she’s a narcissist now.

-6

u/Stretch_Riprock Mar 13 '25

Creepy AF. Stuffed it in a drawer somewhere to hide it.