Is it a normal book to put in a year 4 reading list for 9 year olds to read?

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Clearedthetan@reddit

Yes, I remember reading this at primary school, it’s a pretty standard one in English syllabi. Never seen an illustrated version though, makes it seem worse than it is.

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We read this in primary school too! I remember an illustrated version although I'm not quite sure if it was this one. I would credit this poem with sparking my love for literature and poetry, I found it grasped my imagination and I loved it. So tragic and impactful for little 8 year old me.

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UserCannotBeVerified@reddit

Yeah its The Highway Man poem by Alfred Noyes, i rwmember having to learn and memorise the whole thing in year 4 or 5, so like 8 years old? I still have one of my old "100 best poems for children" books with it inside...

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UserCannotBeVerified@reddit

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UserCannotBeVerified@reddit

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UserCannotBeVerified@reddit

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UserCannotBeVerified@reddit

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Abjam_Gabriel@reddit

I enjoyed reading that again! What a fab poem. Thanks for posting the pics!

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SomethingNotOriginal@reddit

The drawing of the first image is something that's dredged up a half forgotten memory of 25+ years ago, and the more I look at it, the woman too. Don't think I could tell you what it was off, where it was from without further context, but that image definitely rings a bell. I think it must have been this very version we read.

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QuetzalcoatlusRscary@reddit

Yep, definitely bringing up old memories for me. I read it when I was 10 though.

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TheAmazingSealo@reddit

I done the Google and the version with those illustrations was first published in 1981

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TheAmazingSealo@reddit

I done the Google and the version with those illustrations was first published in 1981 so there's a very good chance that you did experience these as a kid

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Lazy-Gold165@reddit

Isn't the first image beaker from the Muppets?

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JandsomeHam@reddit

I read this version of a kid, I can't remember if it was the school or just my parents, it scared me a lot but I did really love it as well for some reason

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Shadow_Guide@reddit

I read this illustrated edition a fair bit in primary school. The ostler used to scare me a bit, but I used to tackle it with grim determination; the pictures of Bess, bound and then bleeding and dead were sad, but not disturbing. I didn't really see it as any different from books of fairy tales and Greek myths, they were just necessary plot beats in a tragic story.

When it was part of the Year 8 syllabus, the teacher used some of the illustrations in class - mainly the character portraits - and we were given printouts to annotate. However, we did get to listen to Ernie the Milkmam - so there's that!

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Both_Today7257@reddit

Think I read the Highway Rat in school instead but this seems alright yeah

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inkywheels@reddit

We did the poem in primary school, I loved it. I don't recall the illustrations though but I'm not sure it would have bothered me- kids that age are often taught some gory stuff, it resonates quite a bit with that age group. We were shown a cartoon of Macbeth around year 5/6 and I do vividly remember the beheading scene. It's also the prime age group for things like Horrible Histories.

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mrbezlington@reddit

That is positively tame compared to Watership Down, which I used to watch religiously as a small child.

Kids of 9 are perfectly capable of determining scary books are fiction, and of communicating if they're uncomfortable.

People need to stop with the mollycoddling and whatnot.

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PristineKoala3035@reddit

Watership down was gory but them illustrations are nightmare fuel(and not rabbits). I think 9 year olds will be fine with the book, but saying they’re perfectly capable of communicating something adults are telling them to do is making them uncomfortable is a stretch.

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AhhGingerKids2@reddit

I also hate the notion of ‘I did X and I turned out fine’ it’s always from people who most definitely did not turn out fine.

The highway man book I think is fine, but I really don’t agree with those illustrations at this age - I’d put them closer to 13.

This isn’t like 60 years ago when kids would struggle to get ahold of scary stuff. Kids from the early 00’s have grown up WAY over exposed to real life danger. It is not just a fun scary story, it’s being pelted with fear from the media/internet/anxious parents and just left to process the information with their kid brains without much support. And, then we’re surprised they have anxiety and don’t want to go outside.

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PristineKoala3035@reddit

Right the fact the discussion immediately evoked the thought of a film they watched as a small child suggests they found the film deeply disturbing, even to the point they say these illustrations are tame in comparison.

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Even_Bit2857@reddit

I don't think you should freak out your kids with scary books, but I also think adults tend to overestimate their ability to guess what kids are actually disturbed by. These illustrations feel like the sort of thing adults assume is disturbing to kids (violence, blood, death) not the things I actually remember being disturbed by as a kid, which was more like uncanny freaky intangible figures, like e.g. clowns, demons, witches etc. etc.

Obviously you shouldn't show your kid like, Saw, but I do remember being confused as a kid why adults were so scared of me seeing any blood or violence when I honestly thought stuff in e.g. Ghostbusters and Willy Wonka was way more disturbing than most of the stuff they were trying to stop me watching.

It'll vary from child to child and idk if there's a fullproof way to cover all bases, but I sometimes wonder if this kind of attitude is actually just training children to be scared of blood and violence rather than protecting them from it.

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escapingfromelba@reddit

Children can I suspect handle a lot more than many adults think they can. We've definitely taken it upon ourselves to shelter them later and later than past generations and I seriously doubt that is consequence free.

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Chevalitron@reddit

See you're right on that, I actually think it's the uncanny way the humans are drawn that would have disturbed me more than the blood. This artist has a habit of making people look slightly doll-like and sinister.

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mrbezlington@reddit

Which is kinda my point - it was statistically far more dangerous to go play outside when I was a kid (80s/90s) than it is now, and yet some parents have allowed their kids to be traumatised by the monetised fear being pumped into their brains so much that they won't go outside and play like kids are supposed to.

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GourangaPlusPlus@reddit

Watership down was gory but them illustrations are nightmare fuel(and not rabbits).

Feel like watching a rabbit get choked out with barbed wire whilst coughing up blood gives this a fair match

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escapingfromelba@reddit

Britain once did dystopian rather well, and children of the 70s and 80s copped it nicely whether it was the annual showing of Watership Down on television or the terrifying public information adverts around being electrocuted on rail lines or whatever. There was definitely an attitude that children can handle more than we seem to assume today.

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_Starpower@reddit

I was about to say this, it was the first big book I read. It’s brutal and it taught me to appreciate life.

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PiplupSneasel@reddit

Exactly, the book feels less miserable and more like some Greek epic.

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Cuppa-Tea-Biscuit@reddit

I remember once getting the cartoon versions of Animal Farm and Watership Down for Christmas when I was about 8 from a well-meaning relative who just saw animals on the cover and assumed they were kids’ cartoons.

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PiplupSneasel@reddit

I watched the 50s animal farm all the time lol. I still get an absolute rage thinking about what they did to Boxer. It was an 80s thing though. "Its animated, its for kids"

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velveteenelahrairah@reddit

At this point, getting traumatised by Watership Down at Easter or by nice relatives who see the nice fluffy bunnies and inquire no further into the bunny genocide, bunny cults (plural), bunny death god and bunny dystopian gulag is a venerable tradition.

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PiplupSneasel@reddit

Have you read watership down? If kids read that rather than watched it, they'd end up with a love for reading. The book is incredible.

But yeah, I was reading adult books by age 9, because I would race through all of my own and my mum gave me books she thought I could handle. Which really meant "ill avoid stuff with sex in it". Although the time i got Rose Madder by Stephen King, that was hard to get at first. I thought itd be like the Dark half, a cool horror. Rose madder terrified me because it felt more real.

Ok, im rambling, but I'll reiterate that watership down is a masterpiece of a novel and is infinitely better than any adaptation. Bigwig is one of my favourite characters in all of fiction.

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Morriganalba@reddit

Nope nope nope. That film gave me a lifelong horror of rabbits.

I didn't study The Highwayman but read it later in life and wish I'd had this version, it's pretty cool!

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Imnotquitemyself@reddit

Wait why is this the first time I’ve realised the highwayman isn’t based on a true story…

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cloud_designer@reddit

Same! We read it in year 3 and I just assumed it was real. The only bits I can remember seem like it could be real but it's quite clearly not 😭

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ArtisticOperation399@reddit

It's really not. These are illustrations of what appear to be an obsessive rapist tyiing up a young woman and then stabbing her in the chest. Watership Down is really not as bad as people go on about: it showed a rabbit getting caught in a trap.

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Hara-Kiri@reddit

It's the bit where the tunnel gets filled in that is scary and the drawings go all surrealist.

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minadequate@reddit

Rigggght but you’re looking at this with adult eyes.

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FreckledHomewrecker@reddit

These illustrations are so disturbing!! I do ageee that kids are able for more mature or scary stuff at that age, and that it’s actually good for them to experience.

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MonocoOfficial@reddit

A few of these were the stories that made me realize that books were more than just children's fairytales and Goosebumps... that I could experience more adult themes and not only comprehend them, but enjoy them.

I'm an avid reader to this day because of those wonderful books.

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charlotte_e6643@reddit

we had to study that book around that age, id definitely push for only non illustrated ones though because im scared as an adult

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Otherwise-Clue-1997@reddit

In my 30s from tge UK. I can remember this from when i was around 7 or 8 at school

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Jascleo@reddit

That is inappropriate for most 9 year olds. Everyone on here saying it's fine etc is all well and good, but in the real non-reddit world a lot of former students of mine (primary school teacher) I am sure would have had trouble with those illustrations. The poem itself isn't that bad, although still might be a bit much for some.

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ComprehensiveDuty212@reddit

Cool. I used to read The Gashlycrumb Tinies to my kids 😂

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Ginger_Floydian@reddit

This brought back trauma from my primary school days lol

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Kit_Tosh@reddit

I'M THE HIGHWAYMAN.

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Sinkfold@reddit

I MAKE ENDS MEET, JUST LIKE ANY MAN.

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Chevalitron@reddit

I'd have thought It's slightly advanced for a 9 year old, but not a wildly unusual poem to be studying. I don't think it normally has such disturbing illustrations though.

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baldeagle1991@reddit

Advanced? Seems fairly basic if anything.

Complexity has been going down over the decades to try and attract reluctant readers, but overall has meant a lot of parents now underestimate how much complexity kids can handle in their literature.

I know a lot of parents who think books like the Chronicles of Narnia or Famous Five is too complex for their Primary School age children.

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octopusinmyboycunt@reddit

Honestly it’s no worse than what they will be imagining. Kids should be exposed to well-written uncomfortable topics in literature and parents should be ready to have an open discussion about what it might mean.

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heroics-delta8s@reddit

There should. But age appropriateness is a thing (not saying this particular book is or isn’t age appropriate ), and there are themes that children should just not be exposed to until mid teens that could be corrupting no matter what kind of discussion a parent has with the child.

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childrenofloki@reddit

God forbid kids see art

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Sad-Rent-9633@reddit

A saw movie is art but you dont show a 9 year old that

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GourangaPlusPlus@reddit

Ah come on mate, you could have at least jumped to a Serbian film or human centipede to make this ridiculous point

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WithWingsFly@reddit

These are the illustrations I read the book with at school, I think we had a class set maybe.

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LaurenJoanna@reddit

A normal story? Yes. That particular book with those illustrations? I probably wouldn't have picked it.

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jeremybennett@reddit

My daughter read "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" around that age in school.

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ValerianKeyblade@reddit

I read The Highwayman around that time as part of the school syllabus, except we were shown this video made in The Sims of all things.

I do think the art in that particular book is likely to be a bit much for enough 9 year olds that they should have picked a different option!

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ItAintNoUse@reddit

I thought a Sims version sounded funny so I watched it and realised it was incredibly familiar. I think they showed us this one at my school as well 🥲

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Accomplished_Bee9033@reddit

my school showed the sims video as well! this was about 10 years ago when i was in year 8. i remember clocking it as the sims 2 instantly because i played it all the time at that age

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pinchpenny@reddit

The Highway Rat from Julia Donaldson uses this rhyming scheme! I must’ve read that book 100 times and never caught the reference

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Chevalitron@reddit

Loreena McKennit did a version of it in song.

IFleetwood Mac also used the visuals for a music video, though not to the same tune.

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janquadrentvincent@reddit

THANK YOU, I was trying to remember which version I had rattling in my head after reading the post. My parents had like no CDs but they did have Loreena McKennit.

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AgileSurprise1966@reddit

Also Phil Ochs

https://open.spotify.com/track/4UwETPfJzSPpQq4cjfIn8A

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tissuerental@reddit

love this one

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dreambug101@reddit

Oh yes I remember the Sins video! Damn memory unlocked.

I remember studying the poem itself in primary school and the teacher pre-warning the class that the word ‘breast’ was in it a few times and not to be silly about it lol

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ConfidentReference63@reddit

Get her to revisit the Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson if she had it when young and get her to join the dots.

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StanleyChuckles@reddit

Yeah, this is normal.

Let's not start a moral panic around books for children, please.

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Fabulous_Function666@reddit

I read it when I was 6 because it was in a book of poems my dad owned. Kids are generally less bothered by death than adults

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Immediate_Debt_@reddit

What the fuck!!!

The illustrations are horrific.

I suspect it’s one of those things that is worse when you’re older with a different perspective than a 9yo but I would complain

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mayhemnmusings@reddit

Blast from the past! Anne of Green Gables recited it at a concert in the first movie (1985). Sorry that wasn't helpful in the least.

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EUskeptik@reddit

I think the idea is to gently then gradually expose children to the concept that life can sometimes be a little scary and they need to be prepared for that.

The alternative is to protect children from all negativity so when they flee the nest they cannot cope with real world situations.

Likewise, the refusal of many parents to teach their children about sex and relationships which inevitably leads to ignorance, dysfunction and teenage pregnancy.

-oo-

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FlibV1@reddit

If it makes you feel better my son had to read The Road at 14 and they let him take the first Game of Thrones book home when he was 13.

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MuffDthrowaway@reddit

What’s your issue with it?

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axelsrose@reddit

If you wanted to avoid that there is a song version of the poem by Loreena Mckenitt.

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Illustrious-Back8174@reddit

I was thinking about this the other day! We read it in primary school as well.

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InEachHomeAHeartache@reddit

Oh man Charles Keeping's illustrations are amazing - I literally just bought his Beowulf book that I remember reading in Year 3(?) of school and being obsessed with off eBay, wonderful work!

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Muhruhwuh@reddit

My son (year 4) studied Beowulf last term. Dismemberment and beheading galore.

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Ok_Inspector6753@reddit

I used them in a yr8 ballad topic - this, Lady of Shalot, and Lorena McKennitt’s music. Best teaching ever

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octopusinmyboycunt@reddit

Oh yes! Grendel absolutely pissing blood from the various chopped off bits.

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InEachHomeAHeartache@reddit

I was well into Heroquest and GW then and all that art left sn impression ha ha

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Matchaparrot@reddit

I'm more surprised to see Enid Blyton is still in the reading list

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Best_Judgment_1147@reddit

Man I remember reading these way back in the day and yeah, it's normal. I loved the art style in the first book, Beowulf I think, wasn't it?

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MorningSquare5882@reddit

What the hell is that?? I never read anything remotely as dark as that in primary school, and definitely nothing with those blood-soaked gothic illustrations.

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GourangaPlusPlus@reddit

You never read Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids?

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MorningSquare5882@reddit

Nope. Seems like my primary school was a lot gentler than most.

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OMGItsCheezWTF@reddit

Or just Horrible Histories which revelled in the gruesome aspects of history, with illustrations!

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FOARP@reddit

Nothing to see here: this is a standard English syllabus book.

People will complain about this kind of stuff and then take their kids to a church where Jesus hangs nailed to the crucifix, or have them read history books about the world wars with photos of dead bodies in them.

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captain-diageo@reddit

we used to take children to hangings

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illandancient@reddit

My first impression is from the fourth image showing that the book won the Kate Greenaway Medal, that's pretty prestigious in childrens publishing. Whatever my personal opinions of the images as presented, this book represents the very best and most generally respected in childrens writing and illustration.

Questioning it is kind of like criticising an Olympic athlete's technique.

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TheAmazingSealo@reddit

What stuck out to me is on the reading list under the 'genre' column is the two categories 'Funny' and 'Funny novel'. First off, what's the difference between the two? Secondly, why aren't they referred to as 'comedy' as that is the genre.
You wouldn't be like 'oh it's a funny', you'd say 'it's a comedy'. Why dumb it down?

Also weird that 'diverse' is a genre. I'm all for diversity and including it in the curriculum, but surely part of accepting diversity is not pointing it out? Like the presence of diverse characters should be innocuous and normalised, not pointed out and labelled as something other than normal?

Highwayman is fine for 9 year olds but yeah the illustrations are pretty graphic to show to 9-year olds.

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Ladybird_126@reddit

Its a famous poem, so wouldn't say it's a problem - although I didn't study it at school, it was in a book I got when I was 6 called The Children's Anthology of Verse, and it was my second favourite poem. The first was A Smugglers Song by Rudyard Kipling.

The thing I find odd is that they've set if as an actual book, and called it historical fiction!

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pancakepegasus@reddit

There seems to be other poetry on the reading list so not sure why they didn't call it a poem.

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ruthlessspace@reddit

I remember this book but was in year 5. Can't remember what the book was about but did instantly recognise the images.

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Loud-Vacation5953@reddit

Yes, Not sure I think that version is the most suitable though.

I actually had a massive rant in my kids WhatsApp group about this book because some of the parents were claiming it made their daughters cry. Get bent! It’s a book! Said mothers actually got it removed from the class. I told them they were no better than fascists.

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No_Usual_572@reddit

Illustrations are fine. Got to stop babying kids at some points and a lot of them like mildly gruesome or spooky stuff. Hence why Horrible Histories and Goosebumps were so popular.

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LittleSadRufus@reddit

Absolutely. The Chip, Biff & Kipper reading series (so, around Y1-2 generally) includes a story where Floppy the dog is lashed to a log by a giant, who raises a knife in order to butcher the hound for his dinner. The illustration is very evocative and my daughter was screaming in terror. But then Floppy is saved of course, and there was much relief, and this is called a dramatic storyline. And it was well told.

It can't all be "Billy has a balloon. It is blue and he is happy".

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AftBullet@reddit

I'm not so sure about that. Surely if the balloon is blue it must represent Billy's depression

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No_Cardiologist556@reddit

I read this exact version when I was 9 and didnt die

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little_miss_kaea@reddit

Yes - my 9 year old has just read a simplified version of the Tale of the Ancient Mariner. Pretty horrible stuff!

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KeyboardMash615@reddit

I was at primary school 1987-1994 and we did The Highwayman at some point! Those illustrations are a bit gnarly though.....

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undecided_desi0@reddit

the illustrations are a bit much for primary school kids but i remember reading the poem itself in year 4 or 5

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3507341C@reddit

I've covered the poem with Year 6 kids (10-11 years old) many times and they are barely able to handle the themes of romantic love, jealousy, criminality, self sacrifice, sui**de, death and haunting. For me, the illustrations above are unacceptably graphic, even for year 6. I would have a word with the teacher about that book being unsuitable for year 4.

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Ch1pp@reddit

barely able to handle the themes of romantic love, jealousy, criminality, self sacrifice, sui**de, death and haunting

Do you work with developmentally challenged kids? We'd definitely have been able to describe that in year 6. One of my classmates tried to kill himself with exam stress and another two were caught shagging in the teachers toilets. There's no way the concept of death would have been beyond us.

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RedWife77@reddit

Are you talking about 11 year olds shagging in toilets? Just checking you’re not confusing YR6 with sixth form?

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Ch1pp@reddit

Yeah, but to be fair I think it turned out years later that the girl had been abused by a relative so she hadn't gotten to that step naturally. And the lad was always mental, he used to danger wank more crazily than anyone I've ever known.

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RedWife77@reddit

Ah god how awful. I was hoping I had misunderstood. My son is feeling the SATs pressure at the moment so hearing about a child his age trying to k*ll himself because of exam stress is really upsetting as well.

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Ch1pp@reddit

Yeah, when I found out my twelve year old nephew got caught doing sexual stuff I was genuinely incredibly shocked and then I remembered I'd done far worse by then. I suppose your brain just forgets it a bit. I'm only sure it was year 6 because the girl I had a huge crush on left at the end of year 6 and we did finger stuff before she went

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wanufilepto@reddit

this is a version that has been used in schools for at minimum 25 years. I did it. Children can handle it. Stop babying them.

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infieldcookie@reddit

Really? I know things are different now to when I was a kid, but by then we’d learned about the famine, plague/fire of london, WW2 etc. Most of us read stuff like horrible histories/science, goosebumps.

Within a year we were watching horror movies at sleepovers.

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Stigweird85@reddit

I understand why they are studied but its a great problem forcing kids to read classic literature. No matter the quality of the prose, if its in antiquated English I struggle with it and that struggle put me off reading pretty much for life.

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thecoop_@reddit

We didn’t read this at school, but looking at this I wish we had.

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Tengutree@reddit

Never heard of that book before. Images make me think of bdsm, torture and murder.

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Hippadoppaloppa@reddit

We studied and put on a performance of The Highwayman when I was about that age (back in the 90s) and my kids read and studied it as well. It's a wonderful, evocative poem and I'm glad the kids today still study it. It's not inappropriate imo, unless the child is super sensitive, it's an exciting adventure story!

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hughieagain@reddit

We were reading Edgar Allan Poe at 9 years old, Grade 4, The Telltale Heart. It was 1967, in Ottawa. We Canadians are well rounded people. Generally.

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3p2p@reddit

We need to stop treating kids like they can be broken by this stuff. I guarantee everyone remembers what shaped them as kids and its social interactions and other kids at school, they can be super horrible way beyond this stuff. Books and drawings are just that, they see more online and in the news.

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Dangerous-Use7343@reddit

Really depends on the child. My children would freak out!

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GingerSnapBiscuit@reddit

Watch any netflix show and you'll see way worse shit than this.

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Frankifile@reddit

The highwayman.

I read it in primary school!

Wasn’t Fleetwood Mac’s, everywhere music video based on the book?

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ki5aca@reddit

Oh my god how did I not know this!

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LiverpoolBelle@reddit

Yes!

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pollypetunia@reddit

The illustrations are spooky but classic. The Kate Greenaway medal on the cover is awarded to the best-illustrated children's book each year, and it's decided by a huge national panel of librarians. I'd be inclined to trust them when it comes to childhood literacy. A lot of kids love gruesome stuff like this and it can be a path into reading, far more so than more sanitised works.

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HELJ4@reddit

We read the Highwayman as a class in year 6 and it was pretty shocking to us at the time. It was the first poem with "grown up" themes that most of us had read, especially in class.

I'm surprised they're asking year 4 to read it.

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binaryhextechdude@reddit

Just looked it up on Amazon and it's listed as an "Oxford Children's Classic" I wouldn't be too thrilled about my 9 year old seeing imagery like that in a book assigned by their teacher.

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childrenofloki@reddit

At some point, kids need to know that bad things happen. It pissed me off that adults would hide stuff from me. Where did I end up? 4chan.... for a while.

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SamVimesBootTheory@reddit

Yeah like the point of scary/bad things happening in children's media is it's basically a safe place for children to encounter scary things and process those things and trying to overly shield kids from those things doesn't help as well for some children that is their reality. It can also put children in further danger as they will not know when something isn't right.

Like as a kid I read a lot of Jacquline Wilson and her books in an age appropriate way would deal with 'scary' topics like divorce, domestic abuse, bullying and so on as those are things that impact a lot of children so those books would for those going through it provide them with the feeling they're not alone and for those who didn't it would educate and hopefully create empathy.

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Happily-Incorrect@reddit

A lot of stuff gets grandfathered in because it's a classic but wouldn't fly if released today.

There's a Winnie the Pooh story where he gets too fat to leave Rabbit's house because he eats all his food, and Christopher Robin's solution is just not to let him eat for two weeks so he can get thin enough to come out. (Rather than maybe just have the creature who digs holes dig a bigger hole).

No way anybody would be publishing that now for promoting eating disorders or whatever, but it gets a pass cos it's old. I don't think it's a bad thing tbh, kids need some experience of things adults think they aren't ready for. It's how learning happens.

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FeedingTheBadWolf@reddit

Yeah but like, then Winnie wouldn't have learned a lesson, would he? The lesson, presumably (having not read that specific story myself) is about overindulgence and then having to scale back afterwards. I'm guessing be wasn't supposed to have stolen all that food lol

I don't think it's bad to show kids that mistakes over food like that can escalate and take a suoer long time to fix. Or just how some bad choices in general can have really detrimental effects on ppl. Not just food stuff!

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SecretCervix2077@reddit

IDK about you guys, but this was all the rage when I was in elementary school. It was always checked out of the library. The Highwayman is positively tame by comparison.

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fire_sign@reddit

This is the EXACT series I was thinking of. Kids love to be scared in safe, controlled ways. It's one of the reasons ghost stories persist. It's important for their development! If the kid is too scared, find another edition. If it's more a thrill, leave them to it. Curating their own experience is probably the most important skill we can teach them in the internet age.

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Grubulon@reddit

This is such a good point and really well put. I loved this book as a kid and I really think the art in it made a huge impact on the things I like now (art, horror movies etc). Absolutely understand that some kids might not like it but you will find some adults that don't like it either, it doesn't mean it is inappropriate.

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Status-Strength-5949@reddit

I remember watching an animation of the highwayman that was pretty dark in primary or middle school😂 I still think about it!

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Pirate_Testicles@reddit

Yes! There is a lot of lessons to be learned from this poem.

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Sm00thBrain300@reddit

Yes, I remember this poem from primary school and loved it!

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Disco_Killer@reddit

Looks like a cursed Beaker from the muppets.

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Visual-Error9282@reddit

Depends on the child. I’ve taught children who’ve experienced DV so I would not put these illustrations in front of them.

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ShiboShiri@reddit

At my school I think it was for Year 6s

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Dull_Hawk9416@reddit

You forget what Grimm’s fairy tales are all about. Just get an unillustrated version. Most childrens stories are a bit grim (no pun intended)

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Desperate-Most-6234@reddit

Where can i buy it? Not for my child sure -_-

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zoehester@reddit

Honestly I think things become scarier as we get older and understand real horrors more. Children probably think this is a weird story, whereas we’ve seen news stories or murder documentaries and view it in a more ‘real’ way.

Just think about all those old Disney movies we watched and didn’t bat an eyelid at as children. As an adult Snow White seems far more sinister and had me questioning whether or not my young children should be watching it. As a kid it wasn’t scary at all.

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Grubulon@reddit

I read this book in school around the same age and loved it. Still remember every page to this day and I haven't read a copy since I was a kid. I'm sure it will be fine.

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HolidayNo84@reddit

I saw a different version as a child that was more of a ballad.

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neilm1000@reddit

The Highwayman is a wonderful poem. I'm not really a poetry fan but I think it is one of the best, if not the best, poem you can read aloud. My mum used to read it to me when I was tiny and I read it to my own daughter when she was small and couldn't (wouldn't) go to sleep.

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AnyOlUsername@reddit

Just because 9 year old can read and understand it doesn’t means it’s a good choice for some of them.

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RollinRagu99@reddit

Year 5/6 yes. Illustrations a bit too graphic for year 4 but then again with iPad culture they've probably already seen comparable or worse content.

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easyjet@reddit

Year 4 is 8-9

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Vanitoss@reddit

Yes, people need to stop being such wet blankets.

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StatisticianUsual471@reddit

I was 10 when we did it at school

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Aggravating_Ad5632@reddit

We read this in infants school, so somewhere between the ages of 4 and 8.

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Rumhampolicy@reddit

Yes, it's normal. I read it at school back in the day. It was nice to have something a bit different tbh.

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damian_online_96@reddit

Yeah I remember studying The Highwayman as part of poetry classes when I was in primary school, 9yo sounds about right. It was one of my favourites to my memory, the rhythm of it I think influenced my tastes in poetry. Never seen it illustrated before but yeah, this has been part of UK reading lists for at least 20 years based on my experience.

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Stromatolite-Bay@reddit

Ring a ring a Rosie is a schoolyard game about the plague. It is just how the British are

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Poem is fine as an old English ballad. But the book imagery is bad. I mean it is true to the poem but not suited to the age group.

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Don_Alosi@reddit

In 1981, Oxford University Press published an edition of the poem illustrated by Charles Keeping in black and white. He won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.

looks like it was suited for kids in 1981

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Realistic-River-1941@reddit

it was suited for kids in 1981

So was Jimmy Savile...

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

I was taught it about then but not from that book. Just a sheet of A4 with focus on word patterns. You really think schools in the 80s had money for a book per pupil? Caution usually advised for younger children in the 9 to 12 ageband.

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Don_Alosi@reddit

To be fair, I wasn't arguing against or in favour of the specific illustrations in said book,

I was just stating that those very illustrations won an award for best children's book in 1981 also, to play devil's advocate for the school in OP's case, the list they gave them didn't mention to use that specific version, only to have the kid read the poem

(then I will honestly also say that imho we are getting a bit too soft with kids nowadays, but I'm an old fart so that's expected)

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basod1@reddit

Brothers Grimm fairy tales are more gruesome than the literal content of this book. Way more gruesome. Disney took all the horror elements out when reproducing the stories.

The art is amazing but I would think is a bit too far for a children’s book.

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Ok-Literature473@reddit

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copperwasp@reddit

Yes! Taught it every year at year 5. The children loved it.

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Tiny_Major_7514@reddit

WTF? This is way too much for kids

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PossibleBumblebee401@reddit

Yeah I remember doing that in class in primary school when I was nine - the pictures are a lil creepy tho

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quiet_bat_people_@reddit

This terrified me when we read it in Year 4. That face especially…

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seasonseasonseas@reddit

We read this twenty five years ago at primary school but no pictures.

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Gauntlets28@reddit

Yes, but those illustrations are terrifying.

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Adam-West@reddit

I think we should often be aiming to raise kids a few years older than we think they are. Especially when it comes to books etc.

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huntinwabbits@reddit

Loved that book as a kid!

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Bananaslugfan@reddit

Op , broaden your horizons, I read worse in grade school and if your child wants to read , don’t put a damper on learning.

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UnCommonSense99@reddit

My children loved the horrible history books. They grew up normal.

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SnakesInMcDonalds@reddit

Ah wow, this brought back memories. I remember distinctly reading that illustrated version. Although it was year 6 curriculum at he time, not year 4

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ResplendentBear@reddit

Assuming it has literary merit, I don't see a problem.

No more murder and death than the average fairy tale.

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PeppercornWizard@reddit

It’s a 120 year old poem that has been quite influential. Here’s the full text with notes at the bottom.

I wouldn’t have any problem with my 10 year old reading this though as far as I know it’s not been studied in her school.

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Befuddled_fish@reddit

And probably a lot less graphic than half the stuff the 9 year old has seen on the internet without the parents knowing.

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Atlantean_Raccoon@reddit

I'm not really seeing the big problem with this one. A lot of kids really enjoy the macabre and gristly and for most it is simply a healthy part of growing up and understanding the world around them. As a kid I had virtually no restrictions on what I was allowed to read and whilst I don't necessarily recommend this to anyone who can't do what my dad did (sat down and discussed the book with me as I was reading it to make sure I'd grasped the context and meaning) it certainly did me no harm beyond some fairly pedestrian dabbling with the occult from the ages of 10 to 13.

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Darkgreenbirdofprey@reddit

Yeah we teach that in year 5. There's a great video on YouTube reading through it and it's animated. Kids love it.

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Sad_Calligrapher6426@reddit

There's a great musical version of this by Phil Ochs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cEipm0eKC8

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ClumsyShadow@reddit

The first picture gave me PTSD. It looks like struwwel peter. Books we read in primary school in Germany back in the day. Gruesome really from what I remember 😅

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TillyFukUpFairy@reddit

At 9 we ewad Clockwork by Phillip Pullman. I still have nightmares featuring the prince with the clockwork heart.

Kids that age LOVE scary and gross. Using that as the key to engagement has been UK standard for at least 30 yrs

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PortPiscarilius@reddit

We did too! Also the Highwayman.

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Kayanne1990@reddit

I mean, immediately I was gonna say "Fuck no" but apparently this is normal material down in England? So....fuck. I dunno.

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Chemical-Lettuce2497@reddit

I mean.. I can see why you'd question it but yeah it's normal

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secondincomm@reddit

Read it with your kid and then ask them how they felt about it, a good opportunity for growth

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MacaronOk6091@reddit

Better than making them watch the video

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abacusabacus@reddit

Did Alfred Noyes not write this for children? I think it was intended for school kids to read. Illustrations are too graphic.

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behemuffin@reddit

I'd have loved this as a 9 year old.

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Itchy-Researcher-116@reddit

I mean, yes but isn't that up to you as the parent to make the final call?

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Tangie_ape@reddit

My other half teaches this in year 5, and constantly says she thinks it’s a bit much for them, but every year the kids strangely love it

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take_01@reddit

I can see why people value the poem, but I’d be very uncomfortable with this being required reading for a 9-year-old, especially in an edition with illustrations this dark.

There’s a big difference between introducing children to challenging literature and asking them to process violent, frightening material before they’re ready for it. Some children might be fine with it, but others really won’t be, and I think adults should take that seriously rather than assuming it’s harmless because the text is “classic” or because children are exposed to worse elsewhere.

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SillyActuary@reddit

I remember those images too! I was probably 14 though

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r_keel_esq@reddit

I've never read the book as I went to a Gàidhlig school so our reading lists were different. But I was about that age we learned about the Massacre of Glencoe and the Highland Clearances - two violent and bloody periods in history.

Kids are resilient and shouldn't be kept in cotton wool

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BellisPer@reddit

There was a copy of this in our school library in the 80s. The illustrations terrified me, so naturally it was one of my favourites to grab whenever we had librarytime.

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Ancient_times@reddit

Its great. Some kids will find it a bit gross, but for the right kids, this will be a core memory.

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Tamesty15@reddit

I remember learning the highway man in year 6 and we got shown the music video to everywhere by Fleetwood Mac

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dragonsurfingfeels@reddit

Lol why do you think a 9 year old cant handle this? No wonder kids are getting soft

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milderotica@reddit

I had this exact book when I was a kid! I remembered the illustrations so vividly, it’s weird seeing it again. Didn’t mess me up, but I was also a weird child.

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lungbong@reddit

I definitely remember reading this at junior school. We also watched The Machine Gunners around the same time.

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maksigm@reddit

Incredible artwork. I loved drawing like this at that age, but I might be a bit of an exception. I was always a mature, understanding and creative kid.

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FishUK_Harp@reddit

I remember reading it in school, but in secondary.

The illustrations are very dark. The first is quite lovecraftian.

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warmhotself@reddit

I read this at school when I was about that age and enjoyed it, although it didn’t have the Keeping illustrations. Many years later I found this version in a charity shop and was like woah, he really turned up the goth! Also I can say that while I’m not sure this edition could be considered suitable for all 9 year olds, I would have loved those illustrations back then!

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97rugbony@reddit

You know mate I remember doing this in Year 4, so 9 years old, and absolutely adoring it! Especially the spooky illustrations

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Stressy_messy_me@reddit

Yeah i taught this book in year 5, it was a good introduction to gothic literature though some of the students didn't fully understand it.

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glasshomonculous@reddit

lol yes the highwayman is an absolute classic. I did it at primary school

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Little_st4r@reddit

I'm a teacher and have taught this book to year 5s before. They loved it! Possibly year 4 is a bit young for some.

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pleasegetonwithit@reddit

This is commonly used as a writing unit in Primary schools - more for year 6, though, and as a whole class, rather than independently. It is a bit gruesome and those illustrations in your edition are a bit creepy!

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BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

In France, one of the most popular Christmas stories for kids is The Evil Butcher. It even has it’s own song to sing along to.

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gherkinassassin@reddit

That looks like a really great reading list. Books should introduce children to new concepts and challenge their perspective a little. Yeah the pictures are a bit scary and more adult themed but it's nothing worse than what they going to be seeing online, on TV and round their mates houses.

On a side note, Im reading The Land of Roar to my 7 year old, we now on the 4th book. They are really good fun and he absolutelyloves them, even if a bit scary at times!

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Strong-Usual6131@reddit

I read this illustrated version in primary school! I was obsessed with it.

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shinchunje@reddit

I’m from the states but yes, heard this poem in primary school; it was the beginning of my love for poetry.

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TheDraykkon@reddit

The poem is fine, this is just a weird illustration version not targeted at children. I imagine it was library supplied and not school supplied?

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Milam1996@reddit

The illustrations are perfectly fine. Scaring children in a controlled manner is part of healthy development. It can help them to explain their emotions, their thoughts and feelings etc. there’s a reason why kid horror is such a popular genre

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Ok_Inspector6753@reddit

Weird? It’s an absolute classic

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fckboris@reddit

It is for children.

In 1981, Oxford University Press published an edition of the poem illustrated by Charles Keeping in black and white. He won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.

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joe_ivo@reddit

I think I was in Year 3 when we first read it. In the mid 90s.

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sjr0754@reddit

Yeah I read that, not in Year 4 though, I read it in Year 6, with those illustrations as well.

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Time-Invite3655@reddit

We study the Highwayman in Yr5 (so 9 and 10 year olds) and the children use it as a basis for pieces of writing... The content seems a little dark until you realise many of the children have watched Stranger Things, Squid Games and worse at home.

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Colleen987@reddit

Yes it’s a standard addition in the primary school reading list. We read it too at school.

She’s 9 not 3.

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headtheatre@reddit

Taught it as a teacher in Y5, summer term, and Y6 but never would put it on a Y4 reading list. (Reading subject leader in a Primary school)

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Agitated_Parsnip_178@reddit

Pssst! Every single pop song they'll be hearing on the radio or YT or TikTok is about Sex. A bit of reading about death isn't bad.

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pixeltash@reddit

My take from this is your sister has a couple of months left in the year to read the rest of the books on the list! April and she's only got two marked as completed.

As to your question, no idea. My son at a similar age had to get me to sign off so he could be allowed to read the hunger games from his school library. We are on the three school system, so middle school from age 9-13. His school had an app for reading record, this was a decade ago.

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blazecranium@reddit

I’m an ex primary teacher. We taught this regularly for year 5 and used this version. I didn’t really think anything of it to be honest though we did tend to teach it from the interactive whiteboard as we only had the one copy (multiple copies are expensive) so the images and the poem itself would have been scanned in, meaning that not all the images would have made it through anyway. I probably didn’t scan in the more disturbing ones, though to be honest it wouldn’t have been a disaster had they made it through.

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heymerideth@reddit

I loved this poem as a kid! It was a swashbuckling adventure, which I didn’t know poems could be. My brain will still involuntarily say “The highwayman came riding— Riding—riding—“ if I listen to The Highwomen.

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Justonemorecupoftea@reddit

We read it in either year 4 or 5 at primary school and that was nearly 30 years ago! I can still recite bits now... The illustrations are a bit much...

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IcyBackground2769@reddit

Of course it's okay, are you turning American

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Weird_Scallion_1595@reddit

Sexy woman victim. The society’s favorite topic.

Maybe the book itself is ok, the illustrations surely aren’t.

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Weird_Scallion_1595@reddit

Wtf

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itsadrianastinga@reddit

No thank you, the illustration are a big no no .We have enough violence in schools especially towards girls.

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Eayauapa@reddit

It's a classic poem about a violent armed robber, the illustrations aren't going to look like Teletubbies now, are they?

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hejonLeseqenh@reddit

The generations that Millennials and Z will Raise will be the next Baby Boomers , I can Feel It . They're all being Brought Up Wrong by People who think 9 Year Olds can't read 😂 Harry Potter is more violent .

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Eayauapa@reddit

Seriously, my dad let me watch Full Metal Jacket when I was 9 and I read some WAY more disturbing books than 'an illustrated poem about a bandit shows violence'. Our favourite game at school in years 3-6 was chucking rocks at each other.

It's weird, because I'm 26 and my dad's other kids are like 11 and either they've had the softest life ever, or I was an absolute psycho at that age, but I didn't end up loving violence, kinda the opposite. At bare minimum, I like violence in media, but I'm not stupid enough to think it's real.

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cochese25@reddit

I didn't read this book, but I'm not from the UK, either. But we had a lot of similar-ish books, not too mention TV shows

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NoPreparation856@reddit

This is not appropriate material for 9 year old children.

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MPD1987@reddit

This is my favourite poem- so underrated

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ohnobobbins@reddit

I think these illustrations are disturbing tbh. They’re beautiful, but bloody dark.

But for context at 9 I was reading Stephen King books, terrifying ghost stories and true crime, and there was zero oversight of my personal reading list from my parents (it was the 80s).

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TheEpicfailio1@reddit

It's a classic poem. I'd definitely expect this in year 4.

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friedeggbeats@reddit

Of course it varies kid to kid, but I was 9 when my English teacher started me on Tom Clancy novels (!). An absolute gift to be liberated from ‘childrens’ books.

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Stralau@reddit

Yes, it’s dredged up vague memories for me, I think I read it at that time too. (40 years ago). It’s absolutely something kids can deal with. It looks like a pretty good reading list, compares favourably with the kind of stuff my daughters here in Germany read at that age (though they start school and learn to read later which I think makes a difference).

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Antique_Location_514@reddit

i did it at school in year 5! it’s used because it’s got a lot of literacy devices that could be used to learn as well as specific language! when i was teaching we didn’t use that book though we just printed it off as a simple poem! if you want to i’m sure your child’s school has an explanation on their website for their curriculum as to why they use this x

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BillWilberforce@reddit

You were in year 120? How old are you now?

A number followed by an exclamation mark is a factorial. So you multiply the number by all of the numbers below it e.g. 5x4x3x2x1=120.

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Ch1pp@reddit

is a factoral

Depending on context

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Antique_Location_514@reddit

i never knew that! i am not a maths person.. i feel 120 if that makes you feel better but i am actually 23

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lazylimpet@reddit

Hi, the poem is "The Highwayman" and I actually had it memorised when I was 9! The poem is really good, but I think the distressing bit here is the images. Perhaps there's another version she could rent which doesn't have such graphic pictures? The one I had just had a picture of a man on a galloping horse lol. The poem itself has a good rhythm and was actually one of my favourites when I was little.

If there's no other book available, perhaps an adult can read it to her and she can just listen, so she doesn't need to see the pictures? My dad used to read it to me actually, as it's pretty long; that's one reason I remember it so well.

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BrownTown_77@reddit

You know, I wish people would stop treating kids like easily corruptable morons with no understanding of discernment between fantasy and reality. If you think your kids can't handle it, that's because you raised them to be mental weaklings. The real world is out there and you are doing them no favors by pretending it doesn't exist. You are meant to prepare them for it by teaching them how to navigate through it while keeping themselves intact, not brainwash them into thinking the world is supposed to cater to them and walk on eggshells around their personal sensibilities. So if you see a book you don't want your kid reading, tell them so and tell them why. Don't run out in the streets like your hair is on fire and demand everything be taken out of your precious child's sight. Doing so will only make your kid want to read that book more than anything and lose respect for you when they see how you reacted to something so ridiculous. You're never going to keep the world out of your child's life, but you have every opportunity to prepare them for it by explaining your thoughts and giving them examples to follow rather than treating them like idiots. Always ask them what they think and teach them and then allow them to use their own minds. Stop turning them into witless followers.

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Quacking_Plums@reddit

Year 9? Pretty sure we were studying the likes of Hardy, Steinbeck, Golding and Beckett by then and I remember that they weren’t even the most depressing or graphic subjects we’d been exposed to.

Having said that, I’m looking at my 14yo and thinking I wouldn’t want him to suffer nightmares from reading any of those. Funny how that works as we get older, eh?

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Steerider@reddit

The Highwayman. Great poem.

Loreena McKennitt made an amazing song of this.

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princess_ferocious@reddit

The poem is fine, that copy is wild! I had an illustrated copy in a larger book of poems as a kid, but it was nothing like as gruesome as that. Lots of scenes of dark moors and the moon and riding horses and stuff, but no detailed corpses.

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djrustynail@reddit

Do you not remember horrible histories (not the tv series) growing up? More “explicit” than that book.

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TinyDinosaursz@reddit

The content of the book is fine in my opinion. These illustrations are weird, fetishy, and inappropriate for that age group

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bored_necromancer1@reddit

Oh wow thats unlocked core memories

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Major_Toe_6041@reddit

To be honest I think it’s sensible. It might freak them out a bit, but that’s not a bad thing. Kids should be taught about death and stuff, not to a point that they are completely careless about it, but so that they are aware. The idea of death shouldn’t scare people.

I don’t think protecting kids from stuff like this (which in comparison to other things you can find if you search hard enough is very tame) is a good thing, it can be harmful. It isn’t going to ‘desensitise’ them as people love to argue, but it will give some negative effects that will stick with them, in a more positive way for their character.

There are videos on Reddit (that I really do not recommend looking up) of people in wars getting shot by, and the aftermath of, drone attacks. Stuff like that, I wouldn’t dare show anyone. Horrific stuff. So bad it’s difficult to comprehend and you mostly forget it once you’ve looked away, besides the feeling you felt when looking at it. It’s the kind of stuff that makes me very fucking glad the OSA is in place now, because it’s easy to just come across by accident, and they aren’t always well titled (I also have issues with it such as a lack of access to non-erotic nude and sexual art, as it can be A) very educational for body and sex knowledge without it being pornography, and B) great references for life drawing - but that’s another rant entirely)

Not too long ago, young children would see, or even themselves kill animals, strip them of their meat and then eat them for tea. Nowadays children are raised not understanding than the chicken on their plate and the chicken at the farm are the same thing.

It’s a fine line between what’s good for them to strengthen their minds and what’s dangerous, but this is easily in the ‘sensible’ area. The drawings are a bit weird and graphic in comparison to what people agree with these days, but it’s really not that bad.

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Rocks_an_hiking@reddit

I read this a lot at primary school a lot around that age.

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Stinkinhippy@reddit

Don't remember it from the eons ago that i was in school, but by that age i had finished the school library and taking in books from my mums collection. Had the Hobbit finished before year 5 and started on Stephen King's IT.

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EvePsycheBlubeardwfe@reddit

oh my god, you’ve unlocked a core memory

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Kezmangotagoal@reddit

I dunno about normal for a teacher to suggest this but I read some fairly heavy stuff by the time I was in year four: First Loves, Last Rites, The Bloody Chamber, Streetcar so if she’s the kind of kid who can read it and understand that it’s fiction, it’s not that big of a deal imo!

On a separate note…she’s got basically two months to read 13 more of those books…She better get cracking.

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KushBluntsworth@reddit

Nah that’s fooked m8 what happened to Biff and Chip and getting a pat on the back and getting told ye read like a 13 year old when you’re 8

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bigdaftgeordie@reddit

I remember this in primary school (I’m 50), mainly because it got to the end of a very dramatic reading by my teacher (clearly a frustrated actress and a horrible old witch), and we were all sitting in silence. One of the girls in my class innocently piped up

“…. What happened to the horse?”

And my teacher LOST her SHIT. It’s hilarious looking back but the poor kid was just asking a question.

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SafiyaO@reddit

I am shaking with laughter reading this because I can picture it so well. It reminds of the sort of thing some of my primary school teachers would do.

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bigdaftgeordie@reddit

Ha! So glad it made you laugh, it made me laugh too remembering it. I wonder if the (now 50 year old) little girl remembers.

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Run_or_Cake@reddit

I remember the illustrations, but not that it was a poem until now.

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MikeSizemore@reddit

We listen to a ballad version of this on the school run although the kids prefer Whisky in the Jar and I’m Shipping Up to Boston.

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jadedflames@reddit

Pretty normal for that age. I haven't seen the illustrations before, but kids love creepy art.

I grew up in the United States and we all read the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, with very similar illustration style.

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LiverpoolBelle@reddit

Yes! We read it, illustrations included

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zumtru@reddit

I would have thought this was so sick when I was like 10 years old

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zumtru@reddit

it's still pretty crazy now

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Adventurous-Collar28@reddit

Terrifying illustrations 😭 defo see if you can find a copy without them

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Leather-Substance-39@reddit

Those illustrations will be etched into the reader's memory and in 30 years time nobody will know why they will have turned out to be a weirdo. Illustrations like these are unnerving even for me as an adult. They just make my skin crawl and make me feel uneasy. But I have to add that at 9 years of age I was reading all the Fighting Fantasy books I could get my hands on. And those had some scary illustrations as well. I turned out fine.

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Vequihellin@reddit

Wait until they get to Lord of the Flies. I'm still traumatised 30 years later.

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Avox0976@reddit

Yeah the highway man i remember reading it in year 4 when I was 8 years old, (I’m about to turn 20) though when i read it at school it wasn’t illustrated

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Buzzinggg@reddit

Pretty simple you wouldn’t let your 9 year old watch that shit on YouTube so no

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angelnumbersz@reddit

I did this in year 5! Same (or similar? I remember ours having red blood but it was a long time ago) pictures and everything. I was easily scared at that age and definitely found it unsettling, but I really loved the poem, especially as an introduction to books/poetry with more mature themes. They also got us all to perform it in assembly which was probably funny to watch lol.

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UnderstandingBulky59@reddit

I love this poem. I'm Australian and we studied it in Year 6 primary School in a State School in Barcaldine Queensland in 1966. Still remember it even today and can recite a few of the verses from memory. We copied it as a handwriting exercise, had to learn it off by heart and then recite solo back to the class for a score out of 10.

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LanaMorrigan@reddit

Hated the illustrations in that book but loved the poem and learnt it by heart to recite for a school competition when I was 10. Still remember most of it. The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, the road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, and the highwayman came riding, riding, riding, the highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.

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quick_justice@reddit

Yes. We never can get over the fact that our children grow faster, understand more, and are more resilient than we want to believe.

As parents we are protective. In a meanwhile a child wouldn’t bat an eye reading this. Perhaps will be upset less than you with your real life experience and imagination fuelled by TV horror and criminal dramas.

By this age many would watch movies about super heroes and let’s say Star Wars where violence and death is common.

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foxfunk@reddit

We did the Highway Man in year 5. Will say the illustrations in this one may be a bit much, it is a classic poem though.

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SamVimesBootTheory@reddit

It's just an adaptation of The Highwayman with some slightly weird illustrations

At age 9 I was reading Black Beauty, Treasure Island of my own volition

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Frizzyfluffy@reddit

Same! I was reading my mum’s terrible Mills and Boon novels when I was 9! I was a voracious reader who read anything I could get my hands on. Didn’t do me any harm, read English at university, yada yada.

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QuentinUK@reddit

Yes, this is standard reading for KS2, 7 to 11 year olds.

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jessek@reddit

Seems like the kind of book I'd have read at age 9.

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Valsholly@reddit

I had The 1967 edition of Untermeyer's Golden Treasury of Poetry, illustrated by Joan Walsh Anglund, and my mom read from it to me starting when I was three or four. I remember being obssessed (in a good way) with the scarier illustrations at that age, including the one for The Inchcape Rock and The Country Witch. The Highwayman illustrations definitely included Bess bound and tied with a gun. It was one of my favorite poems when mom read it to me. Now, I had a secure, relatively trauma-free childhood, so maybe my childhood fascination with darker illustrations was healthy and didn't cause issues, but I also recall an interview with a children's book author/illustrator who said children aren't given enough credit and actually do like and benefit from some "scarier" literature. I can't recall the details or the author, but I just searched "children's author on why children like scary stories" and there were quite a few essays on the topic, with some compelling reasoning behind them.

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Dr-Moth@reddit

In primary school in some kind of music class they played us something about someone being executed by guillotine, including the thunk at the end. No visuals, but some how that's worse, making the kids imagine it in their heads. It still makes me uneasy and I'm now 40.

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MadWorldEarth@reddit

"Shattered her breast in the moonlight." Wtf lol.

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Mission-Sound9493@reddit

Off topic but I loved the Firework Maker's Daughter as a kid but had completely forgotten about it until right now!

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MainGeneral4813@reddit

I read this in year 4 or 5, 30 odd years ago. I remember finding it quite evocative and thoughtful and left me somewhat sad.

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MadamKitsune@reddit

Every kid is different but I probably would have loved that book at nine because I already had quite an extensive collection of children's ghost story books by then. Some of them were pretty dark, if I recall, like the one about the little drummer boy who died after being painted with phosphorus to scare someone and walked and drummed endlessly.

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ishallbecomeabat@reddit

Yeah don’t be such a nerd

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LadyMarieBearBakes@reddit

The poem is fine. Never seen those illustrations before tho. Not a fan

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KatVanWall@reddit

My kid was 8 years old all through year 4 and would absolutely have been freaked the fuck out by those illustrations.

I love horror and gothic type dark stuff so have always gently encouraged it for her as well, but over time I’ve accepted that it simply isn’t her jam and that’s fine. I don’t think it’s mollycoddling just that not all kids are into the same kind of stuff.

The story itself is fine though IMO. (She does read stuff like Black Beauty and Treasure Island lol)

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AdThat328@reddit

I read it pretty young, but it wasn't illustrated...

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Prestigious_Emu6039@reddit

Darkness in fiction is easily handled by children, as long as it remains within the realms of literature and not gore.

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Upstairs-Hedgehog575@reddit

I remember reading it around the age of 10 - but those illustrations are wild!

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AzureMiles@reddit

I remember reading it with the same illustrations in primary school, either year 4 or 5 - so late 90s, early 00s. I remember having to write a verse of the poem as if told from the Ostler's perspective, reframing the way scenes were told in a less romantic manner.

It's still a favourite to this day, particularly Phil Och's adaption into a folk song.

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Short-Shopping3197@reddit

I mean the poem itself is an absolutely classic of English literature. It was on the syllabus when I was about 8-9 and it set off a fascination with Highwaymen that made me go dressed as Adam Ant to every fancy dress and Halloween party I could for the next three years.

The illustrations are a little gothic however! I mean I was fascinated by stuff like that at 9 years old and would deffo be excited to find it in the library, but I’m not sure if it would be the standard edition I’d give to a whole class.

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TheGeckoGeek@reddit

I remember doing this in Year 5, so 10 years old, and absolutely adoring it!

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B1ueRogue@reddit

Is this a joke?

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Etheria_system@reddit

The Kate Greenaway medal (now Carnegie Medal) is given to books with outstanding illustration for children. This is definitely a children’s book.

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Ell2509@reddit

I think so yes.

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nick--2023@reddit

I read A Clockwork Orange for GCSE back in the day.

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grouchybarx@reddit

I read it aged 8 at school with the pictures and everything.

Whilst everyone else was scared by the pictures It never bothered me because my upbringing was very unconventional for the time and place I grew up. I understood it's meanings and themes perfectly.

I also class this book and poem as one of the beginnings of my love of dark and creepy things.

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