Re: [GO] Re: Being Tearful

2004-11-11 Thread Katharine Considine
Kate D wrote:
> I had to pull myself together in Waterstones the other day, as tears were
> welling up.  I was looking through the children's picture books and found
> one that was a sort of doggy equivalent of "Goodbye Mog".  The little boy
> wants to run and play but the dear old family dog can't quite keep up with
> him any more; then the dog dies and goes to doggy heaven and looks down
and
> sees the little boy being very sad.  So she sends him a dream about a
puppy,
> then his parents take him to see some puppies and he chooses the puppy
which
> looks like the one in the dream.  The old dog, having seen the little boy
> and the puppy being happy together, now feels free to enjoy herself
chasing
> butterflies in doggy heaven.  SOB!!


Um, I just started crying at your *description* of this book, so I think I
might give it a miss!  Rose mentioned 'Jock of the Bushveld' - we watched
it at school when I was in year 3, and the girls were in floods of tears at
the end and the boys teased us mercilessly. I vowed then never to watch it
again or to read the book! Silly. But I can't watch/read things where
animals die. I get choked up enough at the ones that have *happy* endings
(my personal fave being the film 'Homeward Bound', which is the remake of
'The Incredible Journey' in which the animals talk. When the old dog comes
limping over the hill after they've just given him up for dead..."BAWL*)

Katharine



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[GO] Re: Being Tearful

2004-11-08 Thread Kate Dixon
Heather wrote:

>>The empty chair in Granpa - ditto. An education lecturer read this with
slide illustrations and had about 50 PGCE students in tears.<<

Oh yes, I was just about to cite John Burningham's "Granpa" myself.  I can't
read it aloud to a class, it would upset me far too much.  Only saw the
animated film they made of it once, as that was also too upsetting, though
not quite as powerful as the book.

I used to have a copy of "Badger's Parting Gifts" in my classroom but passed
it on to the class next door as I found it too sad.

I had to pull myself together in Waterstones the other day, as tears were
welling up.  I was looking through the children's picture books and found
one that was a sort of doggy equivalent of "Goodbye Mog".  The little boy
wants to run and play but the dear old family dog can't quite keep up with
him any more; then the dog dies and goes to doggy heaven and looks down and
sees the little boy being very sad.  So she sends him a dream about a puppy,
then his parents take him to see some puppies and he chooses the puppy which
looks like the one in the dream.  The old dog, having seen the little boy
and the puppy being happy together, now feels free to enjoy herself chasing
butterflies in doggy heaven.  SOB!!

I know it is cheesy but I could not prevent the tears from welling up.
Can't remember the title but think it is a fairly new book.

I always used to avoid reading animal stories (of the Joyce Stranger
variety) at secondary school, as they upset me.  Ages ago, when I first
started teaching, we used to watch a weekly schools' TV programme for
literacy, (series name now escapes me although I watched it dozens of
times).  Every week there was a story, and one was calling "Losing Mick",
about a boy's dog dying.  60 children watched this programme looking fairly
unmoved, while my colleague and I were surreptitiously mopping up our tears
behind them.

Kate D.

(Today was the dreaded day when despite my protestations my colleagues yet
again voted me the job of Writing The School Christmas Play.  At least Madge
and Joey took turns with each other!)






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[GO] Re: Being tearful

2004-11-08 Thread Rose Humphreys
Someone mentioned Incredible Journey - that's a happy ending yet it finishes
me off just thinking about it, and reading it to the kids was a *big*
mistake!
But have any of you read Jock of the Bushveld by Percy Fitzpatrick?  Famous
old story about a Staffie type hunting dog belonging to a wagoneer who used
to follow the trail from the coast up past what became Kruger National Park
to the goldmines at Johannesburg.  It's a fabulous adventure/animal story
based closely on real life at the time and it's become a South African
classic.  Of course Jock dies in the end and it's just too awful to bear!
My girls saw the movie a few years ago and now flatly refuse to read it as
they know it's sad at the end.  Aren't we all silly?
Goodnight Mr Tom is another happy ending that I weep over, but then I weep
over lots of other parts of it too.

Interesting that no one (I think) has mentioned EJO - she doesn't do much
weepy stuff, does she?  Andrew dying is sad but there's not much else I can
think of right now.
Rose
Cape Town


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[GO] Re: Being Tearful

2004-11-08 Thread Beth & Rich
Auntie's death and last letter to Jacynth in "Gay from China", then the 
arrival
of the photo from Ruth Lambert.

Also Jo thinking Jack is drowned in "Highland Twins", then his return 
home.

Beth's death in "Little Women", and John Brooke's in "Little Men" (I think
that's where it comes).
Anna Campbell
Those ones always do it for me too, and my children wonder why on earth I 
read those books. - mind you, I noticed when i got the film out of Little 
Women they all had tears in their eyes too. when it came to the scene of 
Beth dying.

Cheers
Beth in NZ 

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Re: [GO] Re: Being Tearful

2004-11-08 Thread Anna Campbell
Auntie's death and last letter to Jacynth in "Gay from China", then the arrival
of the photo from Ruth Lambert.

Also Jo thinking Jack is drowned in "Highland Twins", then his return home.

Beth's death in "Little Women", and John Brooke's in "Little Men" (I think
that's where it comes).

A

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[GO] Re: Being Tearful

2004-11-08 Thread Cath
"The Velveteen Rabbit" always does it for me - I don't think I've ever 
read it without resorting to tissues.
Cheers
Cath

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