History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / Literature

** Averted in the ''Chicken Soup for the Little Souls'' series, where they made the stories more suitable for a younger audience. Also, the covers actually fit the overall story. Perhaps the folks who created this spin-off realized how depressing the stories could be for a younger audience and decided to make briefer, more happier, and simple (although fictional) stories.

** Averted in the ''Chicken Soup for the Little Souls'' series, where they made the stories more suitable for a younger audience. Also, the covers actually fit the overall story Perhaps the folks who created this spin-off realized how depressing the stories could be for a younger audience and decided to make briefer, more happier, and simple (although fictional) stories.

** ''Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul'' has a very disturbing story in which father makes a little boy shoot a deer in order to teach him about valuing the time you have left in this life. The father surely could've taught the boy a more humane method of the moral, it would've been understandable had the father mentioned how God put animals to nourish them and that's why they sometimes have to kill them and to be thankful for the life that they were given and not to waste it, but that's not what happened and the way it was said and done could very much bother kids and leave a sour taste in even adult readers. There's also someone's mother getting blown up while working late one night, someone's cat getting gassed, and just like ''Kid's Soul'', also features topics on sexual abuse, drug use, and accidental suicide. The intended age is the same as in ''Kid's Soul''.

* The ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy is also mainly aimed at kids and features a world where human's soul takes form of an animal companion. It also features what is essentially ripping a soul out of a body, children being kidnapped and experimented on and ''killed'', as well messy fight between sapient armored polar bears. And that's just the first book - in the next one the one of protagonists loses two fingers in a city infested with specters that suck life of their victims so they become motionless and die of starvation, and the last book features the visit to the land of the dead.

* ''Det Var en gang en sommer'' ("Once There Was a Summer") Is a Norwegian Book Describing the Utøya terrorist attack to children. While the book is toned down compared to more adult depictions, it still deals with dozens of teenagers being shot and killed, and shows realistically how terrible the lass was.

* ''Literature/{{Warrior|Cats}}s''. It's a series about a bunch of cats living in a forest which is marketed to ages 9-12 and decorated with colourful covers. But as for what's under the covers? As the title implies, there is a lot of fighting in these books, accompanied by pseudo-realistic (and often very graphic) violence. Pretty much every fight ends with every character involved bleeding from at least one gash, and on a few occasions cats have had their [[SlashedThroat throats slit or torn open and bleed to death]]. And those are some of the average moments. The series goes on to feature cats having their [[EyeScream eyes clawed out]], getting run over by cars, being crippled, [[DeathByChildbirth bleeding to death while giving birth]], getting mauled by dogs, [[spoiler:being ripped open and left to [[HighPressureBlood bleed to death]] ''[[CatsHaveNineLives nine times]]'']], being slaughtered by an AxCrazy mountain lion, [[spoiler:impaling said mountain lion with a stalactite]], falling off cliffs and breaking their necks, getting crushed by trees, having their tails removed, [[spoiler:having a wooden stake driven into their throat]], drowning in a series of dark tunnels which they are [[FateWorseThanDeath forced to wander for all eternity]], bleeding heavily from gashes in their stomachs, being tortured by extremely bloody [[NightmareDreams nightmares]], slowly bleeding to death after [[spoiler:being severely wounded by a beaver's teeth]], hearing another cat screaming in agony as his stomach is ripped open offscreen, etc. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar How these books being considered child-friendly has never been challenged by parents or bookstores for all these years is a mystery]]. Not to mention the fact that it covers themes like racism (although towards [[FantasticRacism fictional races]], which technically makes it okay), genocide, [[GrayAndGrayMorality moral ambiguity]], organized religion, insanity, and war. Also, see the series' entry for [[Radar/{{Literature}} Getting Crap Past the Radar]].

* [[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]], with a side order of MoodWhiplash. The first book in the series plays out like a traditional kid's story, with squirrels and magic clay dragons, and would appear to leave no doubt as to who the target audience of the series is. The ''later'' books, however, ''run'' on GettingCrapPastTheRadar (specifically, GRatedSex), with violence up the wazoo (including one [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice horrifyingly dark]] DownerEnding), existential crises, and a great deal of speculation on the nature of the universe, which leads to some [[MindScrew very messed-up stuff]]. However, [[LighterAndSofter the spinoff wears its kiddie-colors proudly]].

* ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'' is a kid's book series, but the author himself says that he knows people both above and below the series' age demographics read them. And he [[GettingCrapPasttheRadar gets a LOT past the radar]]:

** Then there’s the Graphic Novel for the first book. Have fun seeing things like [[spoiler:a dragon being horrifically burnt alive (it’s worse than it sounds), adragon getting ''acid on them including the eye,'' and an uncensored ''impalement'']]. The only real thing that was censored was hilariously enough a line that mentions a “bar” and the prologue.

** TheProtagonist advocating smoking.
** [[TheProtagonist The same protagonist]] later witnessing the graphic (and well-described) aftermath of a demon summoning gone wrong.
** [[TheProtagonist The twelve-year-old protagonist]] fantasizing about his uncle's sexy best friend.

** The first page of ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' involves a family being murdered, and the killer then going after the baby that crawled away. Other loveliness includes TheProtagonist threatening to mentally torture school bullies, a man being hit by a police car, hangings, and a FateWorseThanDeath.

* ''Literature/SecretsNotMeantToBeKept'' is about a toddler sex ring disguised as a preschool. The novel includes restrained descriptions of child molestation and child pornography, as well as references to animal cruelty. The Library of Congress designation for this book is Juvenile Fiction, although most libraries and bookstores will put it in the YA section.

** ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'': Perhaps kidlit's defining BlackComedy, as naughty children are subjected to a variety of dreadful consequences ranging from near-drowning to falling down a garbage chute that leads to an incinerator. While the novel has the kids survive, they're very much changed for their experiences, and adaptations have played with their fates -- they're ambiguous in the [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory 1971 film]], and the [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory 2013 stage musical]] goes with possible DeathByAdaptation (''if'' they're lucky, they'll get a DisneyDeath or rescue, but only offstage). Making matters worse, the factory proprietor has NoSympathy for them. This doesn't even get into adaptation-specific twists and references: the 1971 film has [[SurrealHorror the notorious boat ride]] and the line "I am now telling the computer ''[[AssShove exactly]]'' what it can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate!" The 2013 musical has multiple jokes about alcohol and/or drinking problems amongst the adult characters.

* ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub''. The books are aimed at pre-teen girls despite the fact that some of the books deal with racism, divorce, illnesses, death, and at one point abusive parents. Downplayed though, as the books as still very suitable for children.
* ''Literature/{{Bravelands}}'' is about a lion cub whose father is murdered by a rogue lion in the first chapter, resulting in Fearless running off in order to survive. This isn't ''Disney/TheLionKing'', however. Fearless wants to get revenge and kill Titan when he's older. Aside from Fearless' plot, the other two protagonists (a baboon named Thorn and an elephant named Sky) have their own stories full of FamilyUnfriendlyDeath and FamilyUnfriendlyViolence.

** Then there’s the Graphic Novel for the first book. Have fun seeing things like [[spoiler:A dragon being horrifically burnt alive (it’s worse than it sounds) A dragon getting what’s essentially ''acid on them including the eye,'' and an uncensored ''impalement'']]. The only real thing that was censored was hilariously enough a line that mentions a “bar” and the prologue.

* ''Literature/OutOfTheDust'' is a popular children's book in America. It's told through poems from the eyes of a teenage girl living through the Great Depression, more specifically the dustbowl. ''Out of the Dust'' is nothing but a miserable story about a girl whose [[spoiler:pregnant mother suffers [[BodyHorror graphically described]] burns in a freak accident]] and [[spoiler:mother later dies of her injuries alongside her newborn son]]. The protagonist herself [[spoiler:suffers painful burns to her hands which almost [[CareerEndingInjury end her piano playing hobby]]]]. Her father ends up distant and depressed after all those events. That's not even related to the fact they live in a poor, rural area where dust storms are an everyday occurrence. There is an optimistic ending, but the book is mostly tragedy after tragedy. The author received complaints for how grim of a children's book and has noted that she believes children can handle harsher topics than adults give them credit.

* The ''Literature/ChickenSoupfortheSoul'' series. Some of the books are directed for kids, and while the stories are supposed to tug at your heart strings in that sappy, "feel good" way, they sometimes tend to have a series of modern moral lessons stitched together with a collection of serious topics of people dying, dark subjects such as alcoholism, abuse, ugly divorce situations, etc. to learn about the realities of life, even if readers haven't experienced it themselves.

** ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' is deep (the rats are inventing their own morality as they go), terrifying (the rats face vicious terriers, powerful traps and a {{Mind Control}}ing villain), and {{squick}}y (the "inventing their own morality" includes the idea that maybe they shouldn't eat other rats, or at least not the wobbly green bit, but the eyes are fine).
** The Tiffany Aching novels have a preteen (to start with) witch facing various inhuman creatures, including the Queen of TheFairFolk (one of Pterry's nastier villains) and a being of pure hatred towards witches. The next-to-last book begins with [[spoiler:an abusive father beating his pregnant daughter into a miscarriage, and nearly being lynched by his disgusted neighbors.]] All the books also feature references to sex, which become steadily less coded as they go on. Interestingly, ''Discworld/{{Wintersmith}}'' and ''Discworld/IShallWearMidnight'' don't use the "smaller hardback" format of ''Maurice'' and the first two Tiffany books, although they're still listed as "for younger readers". Terry's view is that '''all''' ''Discworld'' novels are aimed at anyone who understands the jokes.

* ''Literature/{{Remnants}}'', by the author of the above-mentioned ''Animorphs''. The first book has several instances of gun violence, one character getting ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and dying ''onscreen'', and [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler it ends with]] ''the Earth being destroyed beyond hope of saving, with the reader having no idea what's going to happen to the few humans that made it off-world''. It only gets worse from there.

* ''Literature/TheGirlOfInkAndStars'' has a premise that sounds innocent enough: the PluckyGirl protagonist must journey into the forbidden forest and use her skills with map-making to find her SpoiledSweet best friend. However, the story itself features said protagonist growing up in a town ruled with an iron fist by a cruel Governor (who whips people and does other horrible things) corrupt law enforcers, demon attacks, descriptions of the decaying environment, and, early on, the town being spooked by [[spoiler: the brutal murder of a '''thirteen year-old girl'''.]] It's also rife with AdultFear, and features the search party [[spoiler: ''finding a desolate village filled with bones and an 'X' made from dried blood and dog teeth.'']] The book also doesn't shy away with its descriptions of blood, wounds, scars, or how much Isabella's journey is wearing her down, physically and mentally. It's not ''gory'' or anything, but it still gets quite dark at times.

* ''Literature/{{Warrior|Cats}}s''. It's a series about a bunch of cats living in a forest which is marketed to ages 9-12 and decorated with colourful covers. But as for what's under the covers? As the title implies, there is a lot of fighting in these books, accompanied by pseudo-realistic (and often very graphic) violence. Pretty much every fight ends with every character involved bleeding from at least one gash, and on a few occasions cats have had their [[SlashedThroat throats slit or torn open and bleed to death]]. And those are some of the average moments. The series goes on to feature cats having their [[EyeScream eyes clawed out]], getting run over by cars, being crippled, [[DeathByChildbirth bleeding to death while giving birth]], getting mauled by dogs, [[spoiler:being ripped open and left to [[HighPressureBlood bleed to death]] ''[[CatsHaveNineLives nine times]]'']], being slaughtered by an AxCrazy mountain lion, [[spoiler:impaling a mountain lion with a stalactite]], falling off cliffs and breaking their necks, getting crushed by trees, having their tails removed, [[spoiler:having a wooden stake driven into their throat]], drowning in a series of dark tunnels which they are [[FateWorseThanDeath forced to wander for all eternity]], bleeding heavily from gashes in their stomachs, being tortured by extremely bloody [[NightmareDreams nightmares]], slowly bleeding to death after [[spoiler:being severely wounded by a beaver's teeth]], hearing another cat screaming in agony as his stomach is ripped open offscreen, etc. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar How these books being considered child-friendly has never been challenged by parents or bookstores for all these years is a mystery]]. Not to mention the fact that it covers themes like racism (although towards [[FantasticRacism fictional races]], which technically makes it okay), genocide, [[GrayAndGrayMorality moral ambiguity]], organized religion, insanity, and war. Also, see the series' entry for [[Radar/{{Literature}} Getting Crap Past the Radar]].

* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' is marketed to preteens. It features the charming adventures of [[DemBones Skulduggery]] and his young apprentice Valkyrie who spend their time searching for clues and engaging in witty repartee, but at one point, the Grotesquery rips off someone's head, and at another, [[ApocalypseMaiden Darquesse]] goes playing football with people's brains.

* ''Literature/{{Survivor|Dogs}}s'' is a series about dogs surviving on their own after their owners evacuate. It sounds like a nice little adventure, but the series can get rather grim and dark. The main villain of the first arc is a murderous religious zealot who [[spoiler:killed her own son]] and is on a mission to kill other dogs because she believes the Sky-Dogs wish so. ''Survivors'' has its fair share of mature themes, including religion and violence, though it doesn't reach the levels of violence as sister-series ''Literature/WarriorCats''

** The ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows film]] has a scene that caused uproar among MoralGuardians: [[spoiler: Naked [[TheHero Harry]] and [[TheSpock Hermione]] making out -- a vision which [[TheMcCoy Ron]] sees as the locket shows his worst nightmares]]. Another is Bellatrix writing on Hermione's arm with a knife. Sure, we all know that Cruciatus is worse, but it is perceived as unreal. The film also had the word "bitch" uttered in it.