Just realized chapter books for 4th graders are way darker than I remembered

I picked up a copy of "The Giver" at a used book sale last weekend for my nephew. Read the first few chapters sitting in my car and forgot how heavy that book gets. Euthanasia, enforced sameness, releasing babies. I read this in Mrs. Chen's class in 1998 and thought it was just a weird story about a boy who sees colors. My nephew is 9. Is this normal for kids his age or did I just block out how messed up some of these books were?

2 comments

2 Comments

gracecarr8d ago

Oh man, you are not alone in this. I picked up a "Hatchet" for my oldest last year and forgot how much of it is about a kid being totally alone and surviving a plane crash. It really hits different when you are reading it as an adult thinking about a 9 year old character. I think we block out the heavy parts because as kids we just focus on the adventure and the main character making it through okay.

lee.cole6d ago

@gracecarr "reading it as an adult" is honestly a trip. I remember thinking the whole plane crash part was just a setup for the adventure as a kid. Now I'm like "wait, this kid is nine and totally alone in the wilderness??" It's wild how your brain just filters out the legit scary stuff back then.