Circe wrote in message:

Oh, goodness, I'm still this way. I will shamelessly admit to never
having
read such classics as _Sounder_, _Old Yeller_, _The Yearling_, _Where
the
Red Fern Grows_, or _Ring of Bright Water_ for precisely this reason.
I have
zero emotional tolerance for sad stories about animals, to such an
extent
that I actually never even got through _Lassie Come Home_ because,
even
though it has a happy ending, I found the middle entirely too sad to
read!

I read 'Charlotte's Web' last summer to my (then) 4 y.o., and put off
reading the chapter titled 'The Last Day' for days. She finally grew
exasperated with me, and we plowed onward. Oy. After going through all
the can-do post-war optimism of 'Stuart Little,' I thought this
wouldn't be as bad as I remembered it. No, it was worse. Weepiness for
days, on both her part and mine. I think it will be a decade before
either of us touch 'The Trumpet of the Swan.'

Caledonia