Books you read when you were too young

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Mouse

I remember reading a movie novelization of "Batman Forever" that mentioned something about a room looking like the lair of a sexual deviant when I was in grade school. I asked my mom what a sexual deviant was and she yanked that book out of my hands so fast that I'm surprised one arm isn't several inches longer than the other.

There's a similar bit in the novelization of E.T. that I read from the school library when I was ten or eleven. They're talking about "perverts", and the little girl asks somebody "What's a pervert?" and Elliot (or somebody) replies "A man in a raincoat". I didn't really get that at the time either.

I also remember not knowing what M&Ms were - they were unknown here in 1982 and that was the first I'd heard of them. It was years before I found out that they were just inferior Smarties.

[missy_pooh_1997]

Black Boy by Richard Wright and a Masters and Johnsons book I found in my moms closet.

[Hyper Squirrel]

Flowers in the Attic when I was eleven or twelve. Way, way too young for it, but it didn't stop me at the time.

[moonfall]

Most of the things I read when I was too young for them were newspapers and magazines. I would always find new things to be scared of.

On the other hand, there were the trashy romance novels my mom and grandma read. I KNEW I was too young (10-11) for them and deliberately snuck peeks at the dirty parts. Never really thought about it, but maybe that influenced some of my anxiety about sex and relationships? I remember reading a scene where a woman is raped on her wedding night and talks about bleeding all over the sheets...at age 10.

I think the book that best fits this topic for me is Animal Farm. I was in 4th grade, so 9 or 10 when I read it the first time. I may have had some idea that it was symbolic in some way, but I didn't really get the political allegory until I re-read it in 8th grade. That was also the year I finally finished The Hobbit. I had previously tried to read it in 2nd and 4th grade.

I wouldn't say I was too young to read the books, but I didn't fully understand the concept of religious allegory when I first read the Narnia books (though I only read the first 3). I noticed it, but at that age I would have probably thought I was thinking blasphemous thoughts rather than realizing it was the author's intention.

[Donelin]

I read Dune at about 10. I read Stranger in a strange land at about the same time. I read early-about 4.