History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / Literature

* Creator/RoaldDahl could be one of this trope's patron saints, with several of his children's novels serving as near-fixtures on challenged book lists for years. (His adult-aimed fiction falls under this trope's [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids inverted counterpart]], and sometimes under BleachedUnderpants too.) Particularly controversial works include:

** ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' is generally more mature (which makes sense as the characters themselves are more mature). It has torture scenes, {{family unfriendly death}}s, kid-eating wolves, oh and ''two teenagers travelling through the worst parts of {{hell}}''.
** ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'' is in general DarkerAndEdgier than the former two instalments -- especially with the new bad guy UsefulNotes/{{Nero}}. This man, oh gods, just google some of the stuff the real world emperor Nero did to political enemies and [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} religious minorities]]. In ''Trials of Apollo'', he is willing to do all that stuff to ''[[WouldHurtAChild kids]]''. The FridgeHorror beind the child soldiers of the first two books is [[AscendedFridgeHorror no longer mere Fridge]].

* Any picture books about UsefulNotes/{{Dinosaurs}} will generally have a predator dinosaur graphically eat a herbivore, leaving a gaping hole on the herbivore's side. Not even carnivorous dinosaurs are safe from FamilyUnfriendlyDeath if a herbivore manages to kill the predator trying to eat it, or two carnivores trying to kill each other. Even picture books such as ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' manages to depict a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' graphically kill and eat a herbivore.

** ''Literature/TheRoseFlowerAndJoe'' is Yanase's [[LighterAndSofter most lighthearted]] story since it focuses on a [[PreciousPuppy cute homeless puppy]] who develops [[InterspeciesRomance an unusual cruse on a rose flower]]. However the character ends up losing his ability to see things due to a crow attacking both of his eyes. The story ends on a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet note]] where the puppy and rose flower [[TogetherInDeath die together]] and reuniting as angels in heaven.

* Lauren Myracle's ''Literature/TheTTYLSeries'' have cute covers with 8-bit emoji, and they're about three girls who are friends and are in school, and communicate fully through instant messaging. However, there's lots of swearing, plus mentions of anything sexual you can think of (like masturbation, oral sex, erections, fondling, porn, ''anything''), and glorification of alcohol and drugs. Despite all this, they are marketed towards pre-teens, are sold near kids' books, and have ''no'' warnings on them whatsoever about the content inside. To make it even worse, Lauren Myracle has created books that are much less ambiguously for kids.

** ''Little Jumbo'' is a boy and his elephant tale that has our titular heroes caught up in a war.
** ''Literature/TheKindlyLion'' has an orphaned Lion being adopted by a dog, but he is sold to a circus and grows up without her. He manages to escape, but it only gets worse when the army shoots them dead.

* ''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]] playing football with people's brains.

** ''Literature/{{Madicken}}'' can be rather dark too, especially in the second installment. The neighbor has to sell her body to science, so she can give her alcoholic husband money to pay off the mortgage. Then a girl is publically canned in front of her classmates in school (she ''had'' stolen the headmaster's wallet, but still). And a deranged man almost abducts both of Madicken's younger sisters, and we also have Madicken's crush almost dying from pneumonia.

** ''Literature/TheBrothersLionheart'' might still be the worst offender though. The protagonist (a nine-year-old boy) is sick from tuberculosis, but his beloved brother dies before him when he saves him from a fire. And when it seems like the brothers can be happy together in a magical land after death, they have to start fighting an evil dictator and a creepy dragon. (To be fair though, this book has reportedly been a great comfort for terminally sick children.)

* ''Literature/AlfiesHome'', an attack on homosexuals thinly disguised as a story about a boy who was molested by his uncle. Even for the early 1990s, it's... pretty bad. It includes the sentences "Some [kids] called me names like 'Sissy', 'Faggot', 'Queer' and 'Homo'" and "Now, I realize I'm not gay". And it's a picture book, so it was aimed ''at toddlers.'' But don't take our word for it: Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120615075924/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/blogs/latest/entry/the-worst-childrens-book-ever-alfies-home will fill you in, along with the entire book's contents.]]

** ''Emil i Lönneberga'' is mostly a light-hearted franchise, but the last book includes Emil saving a new-born piglet from being eaten by his mother, getting "drunk" when he eats fermented cherries and saving his best friend from dying from blood poisoning during a blizzard.

* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTeobo'': Despite the youth of the intended audience, the villains openly plan to cannibalize Ewok children, sometimes wear the skins of dead Ewoks, and suffer grim and explicit death scenes.

* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTeeobo'': Despite the youth of the intended audience, the villains openly plan to cannibalize Ewok children, sometimes wear the skins of dead Ewoks, and suffer grim and explicit death scenes.

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'' features a lot of extremely brutal violence and many excruciating character deaths, as well as some very frank discussion of teenage sexuality, [[TeenPregnancy pregnancy]], and [[RapeAsDrama sex abuse of minors]], not to mention a positively racy IntimateHealing scene between Chela and Oliver in the fourth book. The manga adaptation by Creator/SakaeEsuno is marketed in the ShonenDemographic, and Creator/YenPress rated their translation T for Teen (with {{Content Warning}}s for Language, Nudity, and Violence).

* ''A is for Adam'' is a kid's book aimed to teach about the Bible to young children. It features rhyming and teaches the alphabet. Unlike most Biblical works aimed at kids, it doesn't water down the Bible, featuring references to animal sacrifice (complete with a bloody dead lamb), BrotherSisterIncest, and SiblingMurder.

* ''Literature/AlfiesHome'', an attack on homosexuals thinly disguised as a story about a boy who was molested by his uncle. Even for the early 1990s, it's... pretty bad. It includes the sentences "Some [kids] called me names like 'Sissy', 'Faggot', 'Queer' and 'Homo'" and "Now, I realize I'm not gay". And it's a picture book, so it was aimed ''at toddlers.'' But don't take our word for it: Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/blogs/latest/entry/the-worst-childrens-book-ever-alfies-home will fill you in, along with the entire book's contents]].

* The entire point of ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' series ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' was to be a horror series for kids, [[FollowTheLeader a la]] Literature/{{Goosebumps}}. BodyHorror and {{Mind Screw}}s abounded to the point where the book that revolved around ghosts was the least scary of the twelve. Hell, they introduced a planet that [[QuicksandSucks eats people alive]] in the ''very first book''. Other lovely highlights include worms that suck the marrow out of your bones so that the empty space can be filled with a serum that makes you [[AndIMustScream an unwitting zombie]], a [[IKnowWhatYouFear machine that traps you in your own nightmares]], forcible conversion into a [[BrainInAJar B'omarr brain spider]], swarms of [[EatenAlive beetles that eat you from the inside out]], other humans [[ImAHumanitarian who also think your flesh is tasty]], and some of the sickest {{Mad Scientist}}s in the Star Wars universe. Special mention goes to the psychological trauma that goes with the question "If clones made of you have all your memories and think they are you, ''[[TomatoInTheMirror how do you know you yourself aren't a clone?]]'' Special mention to the constant fear of having lost your entire family but one, and having that one constantly in danger.

* The entire point of ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' series ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' was to be a horror series for kids, [[FollowTheLeader a la]] Literature/{{Goosebumps}}. BodyHorror and {{Mind Screw}}s abounded to the point where the book that revolved around ghosts was the least scary of the twelve. Hell, they introduced a planet that [[QuicksandSucks eats people alive]] in the ''very first book''. Other lovely highlights include worms that suck the marrow out of your bones so that the empty space can be filled with a serum that makes you [[AndIMustScream an unwitting zombie]], a [[IKnowWhatYouFear machine that traps you in your own nightmares]], forcible conversion into a [[BrainInAJar B'omarr brain spider]], swarms of [[EatenAlive beetles that eat you from the inside out]], other humans [[ImAHumanitarian who also think your flesh is tasty]], and some of the sickest {{Mad Scientist}}s in the Star Wars universe. Special mention goes to the psychological trauma that goes with the question "If clones made of you have all your memories and think they are you, ''[[TomatoInTheMirror how do you know you yourself aren't a clone?]]'' Special mention to the constant fearof having lost your entire family but one, and having that one constantly in danger.

* The Creator/StephenKing book ''Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon'' was written at the request of one of King's children, who wanted [[SoMyKidsCanWatch him to write a children's book]]. However, that didn't stop King from including, among other things, a SexScene. While for the most part it is tamer than King's other books, there's still a lot in there to scar a child for life.