Basic Trope: True Art Is Angsty also applies to works aimed at children.
- Straight: The children's book Alice and Spot is a cute book about a girl and her dog. In the last chapter, Spot suddenly and unexpectedly falls off a cliff and dies.
- Exaggerated:
- Spot dies halfway through the book. His death is drawn out and painful (but not described to the readers). Alice is forced to watch and spends the rest of the book angsting about it.
- The children's book Alice and Bob and Their Friends is mostly overly sweet stories about Alice and Bob and their friends. In the end, all of her friends go on a trip, a trip which Alice doesn't join because she can't afford it. The train they take crashes and nobody survives.
- Little Alice Dies of Cancer is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- The book starts with Alice living happily and ends with a Trauma Conga Line.
- The entire planet blows up and Alice is the only survivor.
- Downplayed:
- The book ends with Alice's father becoming allergic to dogs. Spot is adopted by Alice's grandmother, and Alice gets to see him once in a while.
- Spot falls off a cliff at the end and survives, but becomes unable to walk. He is never the same again.
- Spot vanishes halfway through the book, with no In-Universe explanation.
- Justified: Spot dies of old age, but it was revealed early that Spot was old and didn't have much time left. Alice's actions in the book were clearly motivated by making his last days as good as possible, but she's still sad when he dies.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Spot starts out with Alice's parents disappearing. Then she meets Spot, who becomes a great friend to her. Together, they find Alice's lost parents. In the epilogue, it's revealed that Spot is still alive, and so are Alice and her parents.
- Alice and Spot is made as cute and happy as possible because the author thought it would increase the chance of a Newbery Medal or something similar.
- Alice and Spot has Spot dead throughout most of the book, until he's suddenly brought back to life at the end.
- Subverted: Spot falls off a cliff and Alice thinks he's dead. Her father assures her that Spot is alive, but badly injured. Spot is taken to a vet, who tells them that Spot will most likely make it.
- Double Subverted: But then the vet discovers that Spot's injuries are more severe than he thought and that Spot's death is inevitable.
- Parodied:
- A random ladybug dies near the end. Alice wangsts about it for a page then forgets about it.
- Spot is kidnapped by the FBI before the beginning of the book and is forced to kill his former dog friends he fought with in an illegal arena, or he won't get to see Alice ever again. He travels all over the country finding his old dog friends - that have become feral after being released from the arena - and when he's done, the FBI fulfills their promise and takes Spot home. But a bit later, they come to Alice's house and kill Spot. In the epilogue Alice kills the FBI agent that orchestrated the entire affair and walks away from the crime scene, as the book finishes.
- "I'm sorry, Spot, but I have to put you to sleep so this book can win an award!"
- Zig Zagged: Spot falls off the cliff and is about to die of his injuries, but narrowly survives it. Later, he chokes on something and edges near death again before apparently being OK... but why has he lost his appetite and energy?
- Averted:
- Alice and Spot is sweet from start to finish. Everyone survives it.
- The author decided that using a Diabolus ex Machina to achieve a Sudden Downer Ending would detract more from the work than it would add.
- Enforced: Meddling Executives demand that this trope be played because they think most people agree that True Art Is Angsty.
- Lampshaded:
- "Why, Mom? Why? Why did Spot have to die in the last chapter? ...Why?"
- "Apparently someone has to die in a dramatic work... *sniff*"
- Invoked: A Jerkass pushes Spot off the cliff, knowing that it'll kill him and make Alice sorrowful. It'll also look like an accident.
- Exploited:
- This trope becomes so common that people get sick of it. An author then decides not to use it.
- A writer makes a Stealth Parody of this kind of book to make a point about how predictable these books tend to be. Only when he wins does he reveal his hoax.
- Alice's parents get Spot insured, so they'll get something if something bad happens to Spot.
- Defied:
- Alice watches Spot carefully to make sure that he doesn't go near the cliff.
- Alice takes precautions to keep Spot from injuring himself. At the climax she uses Spot against her enemies but still keeps him on a leash just in case.
- Discussed: "Mum, do you think Spot will die because the author thinks making my story angsty is more important than Spot's life?"
- Conversed: "An award-winning book about a girl and her dog? I'll bet the dog won't make it to the end of it."
- Implied:
- Not applicable. (This trope can only be shown.)
- Or, as an In-Universe example, Bob mentions Alice and Spot and mentions it being sad, but it's uncertain whenever or not it's a children's book.
- Intended Audience Reaction: The author wants to win a Newbery Medal (or a similar award) and knows that an angsty work is more likely to win one.
- Deconstructed:
- In-Universe, people get tired of this kind of book, and mock the various attempts at it. At some point, people begin to view the medal on the cover as an Interface Spoiler, and repeatedly mock books like this.
- The death of a pet can be one of the most traumatizing things a kid endures and not all of them do — they can get depressed, they can get scars, they can snap, even. If anything, writing Spot's death as some kind of grand milestone in Alice's life that provides her with a mystical epiphany that will "make her stronger" and solve all of her problems eventually just makes it look a lot more insensitive.
- Reconstructed: Alice and Spot is the story of Alice's interactions with Spot throughout his life, from the day the two met, to the trials they go through. The book ends with Spot dying of old age, while Alice, now a teenager, stays by his side to make his last day more comfortable. "Thank you for being with me all those years. I'll miss you."
- Played For Laughs: Spot dies, then everybody admits that they never even liked him, And There Was Much Rejoicing.
- Played For Drama: Spot was Alice's only friend and consolation when Alice was bullied. His death truly devastates her. She gets another dog, Max, which she hates and mistreats because she feels that he can never replace Spot and as "revenge" for her own bullying. This marks the beginning of Alice's psychological problems.
- Played For Horror: Alice and Spot is a copycat of We Need to Talk About Kevin. Alice is a burgeoning sociopath and Spot was the only thing on the planet that kept her feeling something resembling humanity. And now Spot is dead. This is not going to end well.
Why does it always have to be Death by Newbery Medal?
