And so do I — but do I want to read it for a sixth time (right away)?
October 28, 2026, OTTAWA — Whelp, the time has almost come. Last night’s bedtime story for seven year-old Baobao was “Many Partings”, Chapter VI of the final Book of The Lord of the Rings. We are now a mere 43 pages from the end (not counting the appendices, which the ungrateful child has never let me read to her) and, despite her impatience when Tolkien’s prose makes me cry (which happens a lot during the last couple of hundred pages), she has already let me know that she wants our next book to be the same book.
I, on the other hand, want a break. This wasn’t the first time I read her that 600,000 word masterpiece, nor was it the second time, nor even the third time. No, this is the fifth time I have read (or sung) every word out loud over the past two years.
Did I say I want a break? I need a break, despite the fact the book really is still making me cry.
So, if I’m not going to read her The Lord of the Rings again right away, what will I read to her? Obviously, we’re not going back to Doctor Seuss (not as a long-term project, anyway), and things like The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh are just too short – we would be done with Milne’s classic in a week or less.
The Inclusive Winnie-the-Pooh, edited by yours truly. The original stories, modified as I read them to Baobao. Currently available only through Amazon.com, alas.
I have been thinking about another novel, but (much as I hesitated back when she had just turned five and asked me to read The Lord of the Rings after we finished with The Hobbit) I am hesitating. After all, Baobao is only seven years old.
But still …
The book I’m thinking of is (or once was) a stable of a lot of high school English classes, John Wyndham’s post-apocalyptic tale of religious intolerance, mutants, mental telepathy, and the inevitable doom of homo sapiens in favour of homo superior, a not uncommon trope in science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s.
The novel, if you are unfamiliar with it, doesn’t include sex (though there are hints of romance) or detailed descriptions of violence, but it does include some disturbing elements, including allusions to torture, infanticide, and a nuclear war in the distant past.
On the other hand, The Lord of the Rings made it clear that Gollum (among other horrors) ate babies at least a few times among many other atrocities, and also alluded to torture and death. Baobao has also watched the first four seasons of the revived Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Wizard of Oz, and Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, without any sign of being traumatized. If the gas mask kids didn’t upset her, what am I so worried about?
(If you’re unfamiliar with the Christopher Eccleston season of Doctor Who, the image below might spark your interest – or make you run for the hills.)
Screenshot from “The Empty Child”, the 9th episode of the revived Doctor Who. The episode kinda of creeped me out as an adult, but Baobao was unfazed, even when Dr. Constantine was transmogriphied.
Maybe it’s the tone, the realism in Wyndham’s work – but then again, you can point to Tolkien and find incredible realism in his fantasy.
And even as I type this, I think I’m coming around to my original thought: Let’s see if she likes The Chrysalids. Whether she does or she doesn’t, it won’t hurt her.
What do you think? Should I give it a try? You’ve got maybe to a week to change my mind.