Stories have changed a lot since I was little.  Or at least since Justin was little.  While we were home in Kentucky, Justin found boxes of his childhood books.  We’ve managed to find shelf space for most of them, and I’ve been pulling one or two out every night to read to Robbie.  Occasionally, I find some of my old favorites.  Tonight was absolutely not one of those times.

I pulled Billy Goat and His Well-Fed Friends off the shelf, hoping for a nice book about a farm.  Or even trolls.  But I realize that was probably the Billy Goat Gruff.  Right?  Well, let me ruin the book for you.  It’s not a nice book.  At all.  On the third page, the goat realizes that the farmer is fattening him up to eat him.  And then he meets other animals who are plump, chubby, and just generally fat and tells them all that they are getting ready to be eaten.

It doesn’t stop there, my friends.  They all run off together and build a house in the woods – the goat, the pig, the goose, the rooster, and the lamb.  But their life is not without troubles.  Because, like you know had to happen, two wolves attack their house.  Don’t worry.  There’s no actual carnage in the book; the animals defeat the wolves who don’t want anything to do with their neighbors ever again.  After all, it is a children’s book…  From 1972.

I guess I’ll have to start pre-reading the children’s books before bedtime.  Just something else to add to my list.