Well Thats a Little Odd

Sometimes I am watching a movie and find out it is based on a book I haven't read yet, this is usually a good thing 'cause then I don't do the whole comparison thing.  I do usually go find and read the book after.  So I saw this really cute movie called Nanny McPhee.

Why did I go see this children's movie?  Well I actually really like kid movies, they kinda give you a break from all the yuckiness in adult movies, and...well...Colin Firth, I will watch that man in ANYTHING!  I would probably be happy watching Mr. Firth watch paint dry, or grass grow :-)

Ok Ok back to the post.  Anyways the movie was great, I own it and watch it all the time.  Now besides my near obsession with Peter Pan (it has pirates, mermaids AND faeries, what else could a girl want)  I haven't really gotten into many of the older children's books, I kind of skipped over these and dove right into the big kid books, so of I went to my local book store to pick up The Collected Tales of Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand on which the movie was based. 

Reading it through was pretty interesting, but definitely odd.  It is not really a story with a true beginning and end, more of a collection of little cautionary tales taught by lesson of a less than conventional nature such as forcing the children to continue their naughty behavior long after the point of fun, until they are beyond exhausted and begging to be allowed to behave and go to bed. At another point she "takes away" some of there arms and legs, making them share limbs to get home so that they can be whole again, a little weird.  The movie could only loosely "follow" the book as there was not much in the book to follow in terms of a whole story, but the book was highly amusing, and really highlighted the difference in the way children were raised and treated in different times.  The stories reminded me a little bit of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as both ladies used an excess of bad behavior to teach the children to decide to behave instead of punishing them into submission. 

What books have you read that turned out different then you expected?  Do I read way to many children's books for a supposedly grown adult?