#blood and sand the midnight library. for those seeking an evil parrot experience

[theriverbeyond]

re: last reblog i agree so much. it is so important for children to read books about things that are unfamiliar and maybe even a bit intimidating or strange or weird. it's thrilling. it makes you feel so cool and a little bit like a rascal even as you spent the entire lunch period inside reading when everyone else is running around outside. my mom was a librarian and always grabbed me a random selection of ARCs and books too damaged to remain in proper library circulation whenever she went to the annual librarian conference, and once when i was maybe 7 or 8 she got me this actually very sad book about street kids who sniffed glue and I have no idea really what it was called (a quick google search leads me to believe it may have been Asphalt Angels? but idk) and I have literally never really stopped thinking about it. I read every book in the clan of the cave bear series. I was reading animorphs off the library shelf before I even understood the concept of a book series. the only thing i ever read that was genuinely long term upsetting was a short "scary stories for kids" book about, of all things, an evil parrot. i never had a nightmare about Jondalar's penis and balls but that parrot haunts me to this day