Happy endings.

[rivka]

I'm reading A Little Princess to Alex right now. If you don't know the book, the rest of this post won't make any sense to you, but I feel compelled to post it anyway.

Apparently, at some point in the past I gave Alex a brief plot synopsis of the whole book so that she could decide whether or not it was too sad to read. It's the only thing that kept her going through today's chapter, "The Diamond Mines Again," in which Sara is orphaned and impoverished in one stroke.

She sniffled a little as she leaned against my side. Then she looked up at me trustingly. "Mom? When Sara's father's friends come to find her in the end, do they kill Miss Minchin?"

...It occurs to me that she may not feel that my promise of a happy ending holds up.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We read The Secret Garden a month or so ago. They've come out with an absolutely gorgeous illustrated version (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Garden-Frances-Hodgson-Burnett/dp/0763647322/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289708582&sr=1-4) - the garden pictures take over whole pages, winding in and out of the text.

A Little Princess was my very favorite book as a child. I've always been a sucker for the hurt/comfort paradigm. There's nothing like that moment when she wakes up in the attic and the Magic has been there.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Mine too! And that very moment!

I'll just say that to the boys, the bad guy getting killed would *be* a happy ending. I'm starting to suspect that kids are bloodthirsty little critters...