These classic kids' books are actually a bit disturbing.

Reading to your child is a wonderful experience. Unless it’s one of these books.

Once upon a time, I used to read fairytales to my kids. But when I started on Sleeping Beauty, I didn’t get far before my son interrupted me.

“Why does a prince have to rescue the princess?” he demanded. “Why can’t another princess rescue her?”

It was a lesson in feminism from a four-year-old. The book went in the bin.

Traditional fairytales are full of scary and sexist messages. Beautiful people are good and ugly people are bad. Step-parents are always evil. As for witches, they’re never just wise old women using herbal remedies.

But these observations are nothing new. A lot of parents have moved on from fairytales. There are, however, other classic children’s books that disturb me:

1. Scuffy The Tugboat.

So there’s this toy tugboat who dreams of a more exciting life. He sails away, down a river, till he gets to the sea… and then someone rescues him and pops him back in the bath. He decides he is happy staying in the bath after all.

Way to crush a child's dreams and ambitions, Little Golden Books! I'm also not impressed with Tootle, where the little train is constantly told he has to stay on the tracks and ignore the fields of flowers (although I have to agree that trains should, in general, stay on tracks).

2. Beatrix Potter.

Something horrifyingly violent happens in so many of her stories.

Jemima Puddle-duck's precious eggs are gobbled up by the dogs who are meant to be rescuing her.

Squirrel Nutkin has his tail ripped off by an owl after telling too many jokes.

And of course, Peter Rabbit is hunted down by the man who killed his father. Nightmare material. Gorgeous illustrations, though.

3. Noddy.

Remember how there was all that fuss in the '80s because people said the golliwog characters in Noddy books were racist, then some people said they weren't racist, they were just toys? Well... racist. Stick to the new editions of the books.

4. The Mr Men and Little Miss series.

A lot of these characters seem to have some kind of undiagnosed disorder.

I think Little Miss Shy might be agoraphobic.

And poor Miss Scatterbrain seems to have dementia. But neither of them get any professional help.

I'm also bothered by the plot of Mr Nosey. Just because someone is overly curious, is it really okay to hit him on the nose with a hammer? (My real problem with these books is that they're soooo boring.)

Are there any children's books that disturb you?

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