Children's Books discussion

I'm looking for children's books where everything goes wrong due to a lack of planning. It can be a whole story in a picture book or a shorter part of a chapter book, but needs to have appeal for elementary aged kids. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Excellent question. It does seem that most characters get lucky, that they don't have to face the consequences of their recklessness.

Anne of Green Gables and some other of Montgomery's characters make mistakes in cooking, but it's pretty much laughed off. If you don't need the character to suffer, I'm sure Manybooks can point you to some specific chapters.

In the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, at least one episode in each book is about a charlatan who almost talks the little kids out of their savings, until the hero says slow down, let me hear the pitch. Then he exposes the con artist and the kids supposedly learn to be more careful.

Cheryl wrote: "Excellent question. It does seem that most characters get lucky, that they don't have to face the consequences of their recklessness.

Anne of Green Gables and some other of Montgomery's character..."

Disaster chapters are especially prevalent in the first two Anne books, but generally Montgomery is not shy about showing things going wrong. But I do consider Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea as the two books in the series that have very interesting disaster chapters.

There was one in Story Girl, too, wasn't there? Or the companion, that we read early this year?

Cheryl wrote: "There was one in Story Girl, too, wasn't there? Or the companion, that we read early this year?"

There are multiple disaster chapters.

Thank you, Cheryl and Manybooks, for the suggestions! I appreciate your help!

I did not really like this story, just one star from me, but yes, almost everything does go wrong in Travels with My Family, one vacation disaster after another.

Amelia Bedelia The originals are hilarious. One mistake after another. The newer ones aren't as charming.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Amelia Bedelia The originals are hilarious. One mistake after another. The newer ones aren't as charming."

Thanks for the suggestions! I agree about the newer Amelia Bedelia books.

There are a lot of mishaps etc. in Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series as well.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of 13 books by Lemony Snicket in which nothing goes right for the Baudelaire siblings. The first book is The Bad Beginning.

If you don't care whether the kids actually experience tough consequences for being poor planners, the Ramona stories do indeed have some of that. Also see the wonderful Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, Clementine, and The Seventh Level.