I had a 9yo and a 6yo in my car today both reading books from the Redwall series. fun right? except the 9yo suddenly gasps in horror “ROSE DIES???!!?” (mind you, we had just discussed how perfect she and Martin are together and I had forgotten this) and then the 6yo is bursting into tears and I make it worse by trying to comfort her that “plenty of characters will die in your book as well” and now I’m backtracking and saying I was kidding and promising I’ll take her to ice cream for her birthday if her favorite character dies too but now I’ve left 9yo just wallowing in despair and shock and now the 6yo is feeling compelled to read a book she’s now scared of because ice cream and I have to turn it into a conversation about heroism and sacrifice and we all manage to cool down but yes I am excellent with children













