History WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids / Literature

** Literature/BlackFleetCrisis: Talk of sex droids.

** First, the obvious example: Kyp Durron. Emo teen who commits genocide. And Luke forgives him.

** TheBlackFleetCrisis: Talk of sex droids.

** The NewJediOrder. [[TwoWordsObviousTrope Nuff said.]]

* In the 2013 edition of Eat This, Not That, the author says that when you go to the supermarket, your kids hang out of the cart, trying to grab anything with Dora, Diego, SpongeBob, and...Jillian Michaels? While she isn't as innapropiate as the other examples on these pages, most kids wouldn't know who she is. [[CowBoyBeBopAtHisComputer Bonus points go to the author for calling Jillian Michaels a "character", when she is a actually real person from TheBiggestLoser, a show definitely not for kids!]]

* In the 2013 edition of Eat This, Not That, the author says that when you go to the supermarket, your kids hang out of the cart, trying to grab anything with Dora, Diego, SpongeBob, and...Jillian Michaels? While she isn't as innapropiate as the other examples on these pages, most kids wouldn't know who she is. [[CowBoyBeBopAtHisComputer Bonus points go to the author for calling Jillian Michaels a "character", when she is a actually real person.

** The DarkNestTrilogy. If you like StupidSexyFlanders, torture, and all that fun Killik stuff, yeah. But at least Luke learns about his mother.

* DaveBarry's novel ''BigTrouble'' has an introduction warning readers, "''This is not a book for youngsters.'' I point this out because I know, from reading my mail, that a lot of youngsters read my humor books and newspaper columns, and I'm thrilled that they do. But this book is not for them, because some of the characters use Adult Language." Enough people ignored the warning and were offended by the language that ''TrickyBusiness'' began with a more explicit {{Content Warning|s}} in larger letters.

* Creator/HGWells' ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'' is a classic novel and such. But is in no way for kids. Especially some of the graphic descriptions of the Martians, and the dark psychological study of how people might react to such an invasion. One wonders why they make kids 12-14 read it in schools.

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**** That was a version of Sleeping Beauty. She was raped in her sleep and gave birth to twins, one of whom accidentally started suckling on her thumb instead of her breast and sucked out the splinter that had caused her to fall asleep in the first place. In the end, when the wife of the man who raped her finds out about this, she gets mad and tries to cook the twins in a pie to feed to her husband...[[NightmareFuel but the kids were switched at the last minute, so it was her own children who had been cooked and eaten instead.]]

** His WWII-fiction book ''Over To You''. InfantImmortality being [[{{Gorn}} hideously]] averted, {{Nightmare Sequence}}s, [[NightmareFuel a close-up view of a bomber pilot's death]], two men drinking themselves into madness, and [[MaleGaze a random page-long scene where the main character discusses an Egyptian dancer's breasts.]]

* Pierre Dubois's ''La Grande Encyclopédie des lutins''. It's a book about fairies, gnomes, elves, pixies and the like. Surely it must be a great gift for any child! Yep, especially the occasional nudity (for example, the faun, who is outright depicted with a prominent erect penis.) Or the (admittedly more or less subtle) sexual references (such as the Hosenteufel, a demon who is, quite literally, a personification of the male organ.) Or the explicit and NightmareFuel-inducing descriptions of just ''what'' these fairies can sometimes do to you. (This fairy world is definitely not a SugarBowl.)

* ''Literature/EndersGame'' also falls under this trope quite royally. In all fairness, Card did ''not'' expect it to become popular among teenagers or pre-teens (and has since bowdlerized parts of the canon as a result; notably, a scene where the "N"-word was used got re-edited, and mysteriously the term 'Formic' is used more and more in to describe the aliens...somehow calling them the 'Buggers' doesn't fit well with the PC police these days). This probably isn't helped [[spoiler: by the fact that until you get to near the end you don't realize that anyone has died. Two (accidental) murders - and even before the reveal, you're left with the 'tween Ender beating the holy hell out of two bullies, the annihilation of an alien race, and a good deal of Woobie-breaking aren't usually on the menu for childrens' fiction.]]

* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' is about kids right?

* The original stories behind the following from WaltDisney (see {{Disneyfication}}).
** Somewhat subverted, since it seems that these older original source stories were really intended for kids of all ages, back when "If you do this, you will ''DIE''" was thought to be the best way to teach kids lessons.

*** They left out that Hera was not his mother. On top of that, she's actually a jealous, homicidal psycho that tried to kill him in various ways - any of these that made it to the film are attributed to [[HijackedByJesus Satan-analogue]] Hades. Disney also left out that Heracles killed his own wife and children in a Hera-induced fit of psychotic rage and eventually died at the hands of his (unknowing) second wife when his skin got soaked in the venomous blood of the hydra.

** This was also {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{X-Men}}'' where [[HumansAreBastards some prison guards]] saw Beast reading ''AnimalFarm''.
---> '''Guard #1''' Look at that, a mutant trying to read!
---> '''Guard#2''' No, look at the title, ''AnimalFarm'', [[HypocriticalHumour he's just looking at the pictures]].
---> '''Both''' [[CriticalResearchFailure (laugh)]]
* Oscar Wilde wrote some beautiful fairy tales. They're mostly tragedies, and definitely not for kids.

* HGWells' ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'' is a classic novel and such. But is in no way for kids. Especially some of the graphic descriptions of the Martians, and the dark psychological study of how people might react to such an invasion. One wonders why they make kids 12-14 read it in schools.

* In the world of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', this trope held true of ''TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard''. However, Wizarding children rejected Mrs. Beatrix Bloxam's [[TastesLikeDiabetes attempts to sanitize]] them.

* ''ToKillAMockingbird'' is a funny case in that if you're a little kid, you probably won't ''get'' some of the more family-unfriendly lines, in a sort of twisted cousin of ParentalBonus. It's certainly one hell of a delayed realization, however, to understand the line, "She said she'd never kissed a man before, and she might as well kiss a nigger. She said what her [[ParentalIncest pa do to her don't count]]."

* Given the number of children's stories Creator/RoaldDahl has written, some libraries will put any of his works in the children's section. This is ''not'' a good idea -- his [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Uncle-Oswald-Roald-Dahl/dp/0140055770/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247010383&sr=1-2 early work]] might best be described as "O. Henry [[XMeetsY meets]] ''TheTwilightZone''."

* JKRowling's TheCasualVacency, which features kid un-friendly topics such as domestic abuse, adultery, drug use, rape and internet porn to name a few, seems to be suffering this as many people fail to realize this book is not for kids with one 9 year old kid proclaiming after his mother says it's not for kids that it can't be any worse than HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban she assures him it is much worse, though he seems undeterred by that and said he'll still read it.
* ''EndersGame'' also falls under this trope quite royally. In all fairness, Card did ''not'' expect it to become popular among teenagers or pre-teens (and has since bowdlerized parts of the canon as a result; notably, a scene where the "N"-word was used got re-edited, and mysteriously the term 'Formic' is used more and more in to describe the aliens...somehow calling them the 'Buggers' doesn't fit well with the PC police these days). This probably isn't helped [[spoiler: by the fact that until you get to near the end you don't realize that anyone has died. Two (accidental) murders - and even before the reveal, you're left with the 'tween Ender beating the holy hell out of two bullies, the annihilation of an alien race, and a good deal of Woobie-breaking aren't usually on the menu for childrens' fiction.]]

* {{Spellsinger}}: A young man is TrappedInAnotherWorld full of cute fuzzy FunnyAnimal characters, where he learns to work magic by singing. Sounds like a children's book. Then you realise that the prologue includes a {{Gorn}}-filled description of the destruction of a town, that Jon-Tom was transported into this magical world while smoking pot, that [[InterspeciesRomance furry sex]] is a regular occurrence in said world, and that Mudge and Pog use the word "fuck" in just about every other sentence. Oh, and don't forget the stripteasing stoat.
* The Russian version of the NeilGaiman short story anthology ''FragileThings'' sports a seemingly innocent cover features a boy sitting in a graveyard playing cat's-cradle with a ghost. This was likely meant to invoke the feel of one of Gaiman's other works, ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook''. But while ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' is (in Gaiman's own words) "intended for people of all ages," ''Fragile Things'' most certainly isn't.

* ''TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer'' and ''ThePrinceAndThePauper'' lead many to characterize MarkTwain as an author of children's fiction. But ''TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' isn't really for kids, and ''TheMysteriousStranger'' ''certainly'' isn't.
* All of Anne McCaffrey's books (though especially the Pern ones) seem to be, for one reason or another, attractive to kids and teens. (On GoodReads.com a large number of reviewers of these books say they originally read them at quite a young age.)
** There was a printing of the first DragonridersOfPern book that had (pretty awesome) illustrations throughout and a back-cover blurb that basically made the book out to be a story about [[ABoyAndHisX a girl and her dragon.]] It was also slightly edited to be more appropriate for kids. Now imagine an unknowing parent presenting their newly Pern-addicted eleven-year-old with the ''second'' book in the series, of which no kid-friendly edition exists. Wow, look! It's got rape, domestic violence, a disturbing dragon fight scene, ''F'nor and Canth getting their skins burned off,'' discussion of abortion... maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

* TheBelgariad is sometimes put in the children's section of bookstores and it raises some questions, "So what exactly makes the Belgariad suitable for children? The graphic descriptions of human sacrifices to Torak? The slave in Nyissa who dies from being eaten by leeches? [[spoiler: Zedar]]'s fate? The torture chamber in the second book? Just about all of Rak Cthol?"

* The StarWarsExpandedUniverse has got this way for the past decade. Or perhaps two decades:

** ''ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' gets special mention for having a Nintendo 64 game. It also has an alien that can seduce you with pheromones and {{Robosexual}}s.

* BattleTech! A science fiction series about HumongousMecha, just like in the cartoons right? Well...let's see. Graphic depictions of war, mutilation, and many varieties of horrible screaming death. (PPC hit to the cockpit, anyone? What about a person having their head split open with a katana? [[{{Gorn}} Disturbingly detailed, in-depth depiction]] of [[BoomHeadshot an assassination by sniper?]] Anyone?) Implied sexual situations, outright BrotherSisterIncest / {{Squick}} with the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Clan]] [[DesignerBabies trueborn warrior caste]] depending on your take on their antics. Brutal betrayals and teaching lessons such as "The sneakiest, most ruthless bastard wins when his (or her) competition is dead." Fun series, but still loaded down with enough to scar unprepared young minds.

* Even though ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is marketed towards Young Adults (15+) it still doesn't stop younger kids (sometimes down to 12 and below) reading them. The depiction of Bella falling for the guy who talks about killing her like it's funny to him is only the beginning. The scene where Bella gets physically abused nearly to the point of death is never dealt with. There is suicidal depression over having been dumped by a boy, manipulations by other boys, mouth-rape... The scene where Edward rips the baby out of Bella with his teeth is incredibly disturbing. There's also a number of killings of humans by vampires over the course of the series, and we're supposed to be okay with it because the main characters are.
* Similarly to the above book, lately the ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' trilogy has been requested in stores for children as young as 8 or 9 years old... despite the whole kids taken from their parents and thrown into a strange area designated so they kill each other until only one lives plot! Never mind other things like towns getting bombed and some of the [[spoiler:death scenes are pretty graphic]].

* A non-explicit variation in the novel version of ''ThePrincessBride'': William Goldman is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis presented as the "abridger" of someone else's book]]. He is surprised to discover that his favorite story from childhood (which had always been read to him by his father) was really meant to be a historical satire, containing long descriptions and historical accounts which would bore children to tears.

* ''{{Tarzan}}''. Thanks to the [[{{Disneyfication}} Disneyfied]] animated adaptations, the books are sometimes mistaken for being child-friendly jungle adventure stories as well. In reality, Burroughs' novels present a fair amount of violence, occasionally even {{Gorn}}y torture scenes.
* JRRTolkien goes after this trope with both barrels in "Literature/OnFairyStories"
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* JKRowling's Casual Vacency, which features kid un-friendly topics such as domestic abuse adultery drug use, rape and internet porn to name a few, seems to be suffering this as many people fail to realize this book is not for kids with one 9 year old kid proclaiming after his mother says it's not for kids that it can't be any worst than HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban she assures him it is much worse, though he seems undeterred by it hat and said he'll still read it.

* Similarly to the above book, lately the ''[[TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' trilogy has been requested in stores for children as young as 8 or 9 years old... despite the whole kids taken from their parents and thrown into a strange area designated so they kill each other until only one lives plot! Never mind other things like towns getting bombed and some of the [[spoiler:death scenes are pretty graphic]].

* ''{{Tarzan}}''. Thanks to the [[{{Disneyfication}} Disneyfied]] animated adaptations, the books are sometimes mistaken for being child-friendly jungle adventure stories as well. In reality, Burroughs' novels present a fair amount of violence, occasionally even {{Gorn}}y torture scenes.

** It's even worse than that - Dahl wrote ''[[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Switch-Bitch-Visitor-Great-Switcheroo/dp/0140041796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247010383&sr=1-1 erotic fiction]]''. In exactly the same writing style as his children's books. When the last story features what could be delicately called human rutting perfume & a penis expansion scene, you '''know''' it's not for children.
*** [[ItGotWorse Even worse]], here's a quote from the Amazon page linked above (you know, the ''collection of erotic fiction''!):

* ''Literature/CountAndCountess'' starts off as deceptively lighthearted. [[ItGotWorse Once the two main characters]] [[BloodierAndGorier grow up, though...]]

** But above all, LegacyOfTheForce. We have averted cannibalism, gay Mandos, and {{Shotacon}}.

* ''{{Tarzan}}''. Thanks to the [[{{Disneyfication}} Disneyfied]] animated adaptations, the books are sometimes mistaken for being child-friendly jungle adventure stories as well. In reality, Burroughs' novels present a fair amount of violence, occasionally even {{Gorn}}y torture scenes.
* In {{IT}}, by Stephen King, you would expect a cutesy creature or some child friendly plot. You were wrong. There's a MonsterClown EldritchAbomination that eats children, kills one of the protagonist's little brother, a bully carves the first letter in his named in the [[HollywoodPudgy fat boy's]] stomach, and, to top it all off, the Losers Club members have sex with each other in the sewer. Also, the antagonist [[spoiler: kills Georgie by pulling of his arm and he dies either from blood loss, or shock]]. Sounds like the kind of book to keep far away from your children.

** "Literature/SunMoonAndTalia", a 17th century fairy tale of the "Literature/SleepingBeauty" type, starts off like the commonly known "Sleeping Beauty". After the princess enters her slumber, however, instead of a simple kiss, the Prince decides to rape her. She becomes pregnant and gives birth while still comatose. She is reawakened when one of her children sucks the magic splinter out of her finger. She then decides that she is madly in love with the Prince. So, after executing the Prince's wife (after the wife tried to [[CompleteMonster burn Talia alive and feed the two children to the Prince]]), they live happily ever after.

** ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' was a kid's movie, complete with a source-tribute opening song about "Arabian nights". But parents whose kids pester them for more of the same shouldn't touch ''[[Literature/ArabianNights A Thousand and One Nights]]'' with a ten foot pole, unless they want their children reading about forced marriage, infidelity, serial uxoricide, and explicit descriptions of human anatomy ... and that's just in the ''frame story!'' Hopefully they'll catch on before Scheherazade starts rambling on about corpse-tearing ghouls, bestiality, or [[GagPenis penis humor]].

*** Let's not forget the novel [[TogetherInDeath ends with [[spoiler: Quasimodo's remains being found in a grave with Esmeralda's body, evidently having found her grave, curled up next to the body, and laid with it until he died.]]

* In {{IT}}, by Stephen King, you would expect a cutesy creature or some child friendly plot. You were wrong. There's a MonsterClown EldritchAbomination that eats children, kills one of the protagonist's little brother, a bully carves the first letter in his named in the [[HollywoodPudgy fat boy's]] stomach, and, to top it all off, the Losers Club members have sex with each other in the sewer. Also, the antagonist kills Georgie by pulling of his arm and he dies either from blood loss, or shock. Sounds like the kind of book to keep far away from your children.

** ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': In [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the real story]], Esmeralda is about 16, Frollo attempts to rape her, she gets ''executed'' shortly after finding her long-lost birth mother (who also dies), Quasimodo never finds happiness, and he dies alone and miserable. Yeah, the story doesn't actually end with everyone in Paris finally accepting Quasi as a human.
*** Let's not forget the novel [[TogetherInDeath ends with Quasimodo's remains being found in a grave with Esmeralda's body, evidently having found her grave, curled up next to the body, and laid with it until he died.]]
*** Also, Phoebus was a womanizer to start, and he ends by "coming to a tragic end" -- marrying a [[AlphaBitch nasty socialite]].

* ''GulliversTravels'' shows that this trope is OlderThanTheyThink. Largely regarded as a children's tale with many, many {{Bowdlerise}}ed versions of it out there, it was successful among children even when it was first published in the 18th century... despite the fact that the unaltered text is, in fact, a ''heavily'' satirical and most definitely an ''adult'' book, being among the most preeminent satirical works of the English language.

* In {{IT}}, by Stephen King, you would expect a cutesy creature or some child friendly plot. You were wrong. There's a MonsterClown EldritchAbomination that eats children, kills one of the protagonist's little brother, a bully carves the first letter in his named in the [[HollywoodPudgy fat boy's]] stomach, and, to top it all off, the Losers Club members have sex with each other in the sewer. Also, the antagonist kills Georgie by pulling of his arm and he dies either from blood loss, or shock. Sounds like the kind of book to keep far away from your children.