14 Children's Authors Who Were Way Weirder, Darker, Or More Problematic Than We Knew

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14 Children's Authors Who Were Way Weirder, Darker, Or More Problematic Than We Knew

We here at Cracked are, unfortunately, a little bit older than we used to be. And that means some of us have kids, which means (the responsible ones of us, at least) are reading to our kids. Unless we're tired and letting them have screen time, that is. Anyway, books are rad, and the process of aging and revisiting kids books with a new generation is really fun! Which prompted us to look up some facts and histories about some of our most beloved authors. And boy oh boy, was that a mistake. A grave, grave mistake. The internet loves to say something “ruined my childhood,” but we might not actually come back from this. Especially since our toddlers are running to their bookshelves right now, asking to read these awful, awful authors.

Don't worry: Beverly Cleary remains, as far as we can tell, an absolute saint. Mo Willems, too. That dude rules (please don't let these sentences milkshake duck, universe).

Forrest Carter The Education ATREESTORY of BY FORREST CARTER Little Tree His famous story about growing up with Cherokee grandparents was thought to be autobiographical for a long time. But nope! It turns out Forrest Carter' was really Asa Earl Carter, a former leader of the violent Alabama KKK.

Source: NYTimes

Maurice Sendak WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Sendak had a weird relationship with the very concept of childhood. His own was stunted by the Holocaust, and he always said he had no interest in raising a child of his own. For better or worse, he always kept it real

Margaret Wise Brown GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown Pictures by Clement Hurd Harper 180 CRACKED & Brothers. Established She straight-up did not like kids. Or bunnies, for that matter. A reporter once asked her how she could hunt rabbits, despite writing stories about them, and she responded Well, I

Hugh Lofting THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE HUCH LOFTINC The original Doctor Dolittle story included a subplot about Prince Bumpo, an African noble whom the good Doctor graciously bleaches white SO he can marry a princess.

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