My wild girl loves to read or be read to.
BUT
She totally breaks down and cries, hard, if a character has to say "good-bye" to something. This is something that sneak up on you in a book. We were tooling along reading THREE GOOD DEEDS when suddenly...

[SPOILER ALERT -- DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW]

...the witch who was neither very nice nor very sympathetic, dies. My daughter cried for a good five minutes. I shudder to think how she would handle one of the infinite number of pet-dying novels.

The other night she was reading an article in either RANGER RICK or NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS (I'm not sure which as we get both). Apparently it was about raising some wild animal and then (oh no)....releasing it back in the wild. I hear wild weeping and run to her room. She hated the idea of loving an animal and having to say good-bye even though she totally knows that animals are happier in the wild. But she felt deeply for the wildlife person and we broken hearted over her loss.

Last night we were reading THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS and Mole had sniffed his home...but Ratty was in a hurry and nearly wouldn't go with him. Finally they went and were glad they did. It was a grand reunion with Mole's old life but he knew he loved his new life even more.

Right -- heart broken crying.

Really, life is a mine field with my daughter. When she was in preschool, they had to call us to come to the school because they showed a happy little movie about a little boy whose dog had puppies and he had to find good homes for them all and did....the teachers had no idea why my wee girlie fell apart during the movie. But as soon as I walked in, I asked what has been going on -- a movie. Did someone have to say good-bye to something in the movie? Yes, but it was a happy scene. Not for my girl.

She used to cry everyday for the preschool goodbye song -- then for the Kindergarten goodbye song. We had to turn the tv off to avoid the Blue's Clues goodbye song (because one can only handle so much emotional crisis).

Recently, we bought her a new bed -- she cried for the old one, not because she still wanted it, but because it was leaving.

It's a constant source of mystery for me. But she is learning to get hold of herself a bit quicker than in the past. Still, you just never know when a good-bye might suddenly leap up and get ya.

Personally I think I'll form a storm-trooper group and begin challenging books on the basis of containing lurking good-byes. Makes as much sense as some of the stuff I've seen.