you may have loved them as a child but
we bet you didn't know about the dark
shadows behind them hey everyone I'm
Rebecca and welcome to watchmojo.com
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that means we're analyzing popular
children's books that feature a twisted
discriminatory or just plain
heartbreaking backstory or inspiration
whether in the origins of the books
themselves or in the lives of the
authors however we'll be excluding fairy
tales from this list because we have
another list on that topic alright let's
get to it
we'll take them all nonsense we'll take
no more gum from you UQ's leaf bread
with the butter side up number 10 the
Harry Potter series JK Rowling
pastry it's a series of fantasy novels
that change the landscape of books and
filmmaking for all time chronicling the
lives and adventures of the titular
young wizard and his friends at Hogwarts
this best-selling book series became the
basis for eight crowd-pleasing films
that broke records around the world
however it may come as a surprise to
many fans that some of the elements in
Rowling's books were taken from her own
real-life pains and struggles terrible
for instance the very premise of Potter
being an orphaned wizard was taken from
the agony Rowling experienced from
losing her mother to multiple sclerosis
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number 9 Peter Pan JM Barrie 19 homeless
off tonight that's all it is on the one
hand it's the story of the leader of the
Lost Boys an independent mischievous
young lad who never grows up
however for being a story filled with
fun and wonder that inspired a series of
popular films plays and TV shows its
origins are significantly lacking in
such happy details I want always to be a
boy and have fun while also inspired by
Berry's friendship with the five boys of
the Llewelyn Davies family when author
Berry's brother David died at the age of
12
the Scottish author impersonated his
dead sibling in order to get his
depressed mother's attention but to no
avail
very quickly grew up while his brother
David was forced to stay the same age in
her mind sound familiar
it seems to me that Peter is trying to
grow up too fast
number 8 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth
Grahame now I'll take you both back
through the Wildwood you'll be perfectly
safe with me
published in 1908 the novel follows the
adventures of a mole a rat a toad and a
badger as they interact with each other
and embark on several adventures I've
got this yearning just to be here with
nature don't you feel you fans of the
novel may know that the premise behind
the tales originated with bedtime
stories that Graham would come up with
for his son Alistair fewer may know the
real life stories tragic ending that
Alistair would commit suicide at the age
of 19 by lying on a set of railroad
tracks brokenhearted the Scottish author
would never again write something that
equaled the success of the children's
classic number 7 The BFG Roald Dahl I
think it comes at 3:00 in the morning
when I nearly won that
like like always like now adapted from
his 1975 short story the acclaimed
British authors children's novel
features The Adventures of a young girl
named Sophie and her interactions with a
Big Friendly Giant called BFG probably
the most beloved feature of the book is
the BFGS nonsensical language that
provides amusing twists to typical
English words
good boys noise come birth the
inspiration for the language is a little
less amusing however as it came from
dolls observations of his wife Patricia
who suffered a stroke that damaged her
brain and caused her to forget words and
invent new ones to boot the children's
book was dedicated to his daughter
Olivia who died at the age of seven from
measles number six the butter battle
book dr. Seuss as you know on this side
of the wall we are you can the far other
side of this wall live the jokes from
the same rhyming genius that wrote The
Cat in the Hat in green eggs and ham
came this 1984 book although the story's
background is much less entertaining
than that of the other two written
during the Cold War it's a story of an
escalating conflict between the Yuke's
and the Zuke's who disagree on how to
eat bread whether with the buttered-side
up or down and in every soup house and
in every town every soup is bread with a
side down Seuss wrote the sobering story
as a parable about the dangers of war
the destructive nature of nuclear
weapons and humankind's eventual demise
if peace can't be achieved pretty heavy
for a book containing the words tough
Tufted prickly snick berry switch you
will see your old grandpa them all over
the wall number 5
Yertle the Turtle dr. Seuss if I could
sit hi how much greater I'd be what the
king
I'd be ruler of all I could see another
from the doctor part of a collection of
three short stories published in 1958
it's gone on to be recognized as one of
the best-selling children's books of all
time
the story features a turtle whose king
of the pond but when he becomes
discontent with the stone that serves as
his throne he decides to sit upon an
ever-growing stack of unhappy
uncomfortable Turtles
I'm yertle the turtle Oh marvelous me
for I am the ruler of all that I see
when his ambition causes him to demand
that he rise above the moon the bottom
turtle burps upsetting urals balance and
sending him plummeting back into the
pond after publication the devoutly
anti-fascist soos was very clear that
Yertle represented Adolf Hitler and his
tyrannical quest to subjugate other
lands and people's for a Yertle the king
of all Salamis aand fell off his high
throne and fell plunk in the pond number
four White Fang Jack London adapted
multiple times for television and film
this is the classic novel that
introduced the world to one particularly
lovable wolf dog published to immediate
international acclaim and eventually
translated into over 80 languages
readers follow the wild White Fang as he
gradually becomes domesticated against
the backdrop of the Klondike Gold Rush
although a compelling adventure aspects
of the story cannot escape the racial
prejudices of its famously complicated
author with lines like quote as compared
with the Indians he had known they were
to him another race of beings a race of
superior gods London even once
elaborated on his supremacist views
explicitly in an essay entitled the salt
of the earth
sure number three Charlie in the
Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl
[Applause]
back to the dollhouse what child didn't
dream of accompanying young Charlie
Bucket as he toured Willy Wonka's
eccentric Chocolate Factory the
imaginative novel has been widely
praised as one of the greatest young
adult books of all time
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however allegations of racism have
followed the book for a long time the
original print edition featured the
Oompa Loompas as having African descent
which prompted the n-double-a-cp to
raise concerns over depictions of
slavery the whole place is nothing but
thick jungles infested by the most
dangerous beasts in the entire world
dolls Widow felicity later claimed he
was not racist since his original vision
for protagonist Charlie was to be a
black child and it was his agent that
nixed the idea because he felt it
wouldn't appeal to readers number 2
Dumbo the flying elephant Helen a Burson
mayor what could be dark about the
heartwarming tale of a little elephant
with oversized ears who becomes the star
of the circus apparently quite a bit
according to mayor's son Andrew the
trials and bullying that Dumbo
experiences in the story represented the
struggles of his mother who similarly
had a difficult life others believe the
story of Dumbo was based on the
real-life circus elephant jumbo who rose
to fame in the late 1800s rather than
being a happy carefree elephant jumbo
suffered severe mistreatment as he
watched his mother be killed and then
spent a life in captivity where he was
fed coins doped with alcohol and
eventually died after getting hit by a
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notifications number one love you
forever Robert Munsch love you forever
by Robert Munsch published by Firefly
books printed in Mexico this tearjerker
is widely acclaimed and is one of the
best-selling children's books of all
time the premise is simple it's the
story of the love that a mother has for
her baby boy as shown over time a mother
held her new baby and very
slowly rocked him back and forth
throughout his life through thick and
thin she inevitably visits her son
cradles him in her arms and sings a
lullaby promising to love him forever I
love you forever I'll like you for
always as long as I'm living my baby
you'll be
however the inspiration for the story
came from a devastatingly emotional
place for the author it was a poem he
would sing silently to himself after the
deaths of his first two children who
were both stillborn I love you forever
I'll like you for always as long as I'm
living my baby you'll be so did you guys
read and love any or all of these
stories and did you know about the dark
stories behind them for some reason I
read yertle the turtle a lot as a kid
and I already knew about the dark story
behind it
I don't know why anyway tell me what you
think in the comments or come talk to me
on my youtube channel or on Twitter or
Instagram at Rebecca Braden also please
watch this other video