On the Selection of Bedtime Reading for Children

By / May 13, 2012 / 4 Comments

Note to teachers:

If you assign a book that is historical fiction about the industrial revolution in which all of the protagonist’s friends die dramatically during a factory fire, please let me know the contents of the book so that I can make sure my daughter does not read it at bedtime. My daughter has an extremely vivid imagination and a strong propensity to identify with book characters. She has cried her eyes red and spent an outraged hour telling me all the gruesome details about the deaths and the dishonesty of the industrial revolution factory owner. I suppose this is the point of the book. We must learn history in order to not repeat it. However I can not in good conscience turn off the light and leave my child alone with these dark and terrible thoughts. An application of the Wordgirl audio book may be insufficient antidote to allow sleep to arrive at a reasonable hour.

Thanks,
Me.