What is the saddest book you have ever read?

Well, it didn't make me cry, but one sad book is "Of Mice and Men." I won't give away the ending either. It's a good short book and it's also a movie for those without the attention span ha ha. I'm generally not a fan of sad stories, though, so this is the only one that comes to mind right now.

I remember "Where the Red Fern Grows." We read it in school too and I think even the teacher got a little misty eyed. It's a great coming of age story though, but I never want to read it again! There is a graphic novel called We3 that made be cry. It's about creating perfect robotic soldiers out of stray (or in some cases, stolen) animals. It was just so heart breaking even if the end is pretty happy. Watership Down is another great book that made me cry. I never thought that a book about rebbits could be so deep and interesting. There are sad parts, but if you haven't read it yet, you really should!

Yes, it's "Where the Red Fern Grows" for me too. My 4th grade teacher read the book to the whole class but when it came time for the last super sad tear jerker chapters, she read it into a tape recorder at home and brought it to class so we could listen to it. You could tell from her voice that she was crying plus while she played it in class, she cried some more. Then I read it again in school over the next couple of years, seems like we couldn't get away from the book! The author even came to town and visited Thompson Junior High School that I was going to at the time! It's funny that I saw your question because I had just put down a copy of the book "Were Red Fern Grows" that I found on my shelf that I had forgotten that I had. I was leafing through it and of course, had to read some of it but I am stopping now. I really can't handle reading the end right now! And I am somewhat of an adult now too.

Where the Red Fern Grows is a tear jerker all right, but the one that gets me everytime is "Message in a Bottle." My husband bought it for me thinking I would like it, well I did, but I couldn't stop crying. He hasn't bought me a book since.

I agree that Where the Red Fern Grows was extremely sad, but I had a couple of other books that wrecked me when I was reading them. One was Let the Circle be Unbroken, it was the sequel to Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry. They were books about a family that was the first and second generation of freed slaves. The family went through alot and it was soo sad. But the books that really got to me were The Dark Tower books. They were a series by Stephen King. I was actually talking to a friend about these books recently. The books were written with long time periods inbetween each. You become so invested in the characters over the years that when something happens to any of them, it's like it's happening to someone you really care about. One of my friends mentioned that after a particular portion of the final couple of books, he actually had to put his head down and cry. I actually cried and through the books on occasion because I was so invested in each character.

Yeah, "Where the Red Fern Grows" is a very sad tale. I remember reading that story as a youngster, and then it was the first movie my family ever bought, so I watched it a lot, too. And then of course, you have another very sad book/movie about a boy and his dog..."Old Yeller".

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, made me cry and I don't usually get that emotional when reading books. I was in college and it was assigned reading for U.S. History class. It is a book about the cruelty of slavery but also about the kindness of those opposing slavery. A good read but it gets sad at the end.

It's hard to think of the saddest book that I have read... but "Where the Red Ferns Grow" was really sad. Also "Watership Down" made me cry. Recently "The Time Traveler's Wife" made me cry.

The series of books about the life of David Pelzer - A Child Called It - is the saddest thing I've read. They're the true story of him as a little boy, being horifically abused by his mother. I found them to be horrible to read, and I cried throughout, but I couldn't put them down. I've given them to my older children to read. It's amazing to realize that people have to live in circumstances like that.

i think i cried at "white oleander" and a few others, but i just don't remember.... i've cried and laughed aloud while reading alot of books and i can't really remember which ones. sorry. i liked your question though!!!

Probably A Child Called "It". It was very sad; throught the entire book even. And there's a graphic novel 'Blankets' it was sad in its on way too :)

The saddest book I've read has to be My Friend Leonard by James Frey. I don't wanna give anything away for the people who haven't read it, but the first fifty pages really hit you hard. Even if there's a lot of controversy over what is the truth and what is not in his books, his writing ability is amazing.

When I was nine I read Martin Luther King's life story. At the end of the book he was shot and not being socially aware of this fact yet I ran downstairs crying, "mommy, mommy, they shot that nice man!" it was my first real pain I felt for another human being. That book brought me to tears.

To Kill A Mockingbird

When I was in grade school I remember having to read a book about Titanic. It was fiction...but you know that in a way it was non-fiction because that stuff actually did happen. I remember that that made me cry. I also read a book called Smart Women by Judy Blume. That book didn't make me cry, but it was really sad. I have a book that I haven't read yet but it sounds really sad. It is called With You and Without You. So we'll see if that one makes me cry.

Oh, I remember reading that book in fourth grade!! I had completely forgotten about that book until I saw your post. I guess that's probably one of the saddest books I've ever read too. I love animals, and that book definitely was a major tear jerker for me! I was so depressed after reading it!!

I remember stories about animals always toughed me deeply. But stories about people can be as bad. The most tearful books I read: Seton Thompson's Short stories Jack London "Michael brother of Jerry" Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas"

Frederik Phol's Jem. It had one of those endings that was written to be sound happy, but when y0ou read between the lines, it was quite sad.

I haven't really read many sad books at all. Where the Red Fern Grows does stick out in my mind too. My 3rd grade teacher started reading it and the girl knew what was gonna happen in the end so she started bawling right away when we started. She had to be removed from class and read another book while we read Where the Red Fern Grows. Personally since it was only quiet time after recess and the book was chosen by the teacher she should've just picked a new book all together if it meant removing a kid from the class every day to do something else. It was kind of like singling her out. It was good though. If I remember the story correctly, I think Bridge to Terabithia was sad, but I could have it mixed with another book . I read it years ago.

My saddest book was "Alex: The Life of a Child" by Frank Deford. This was the only book i ever cried to. it was heartbreaking.