And also, that some stories shouldn’t have happily-ever-afters What it taught me: To stay away from little girls with cleated shoes. It was also adapted as a Broadway play and as a 2018 lifetime movie directed by Rob Lowe Other media: Most notably, the 1956 film of the same name (The Bad Seed) starring Patty McCormack.

The Bad Seed helped change thatįun Facts: Not that it’s a FUN fact, of course, but the author, William March, died just one month after The Bad Seed’s publication I’m sure they happened, but they were very rarely documented. It asked hard questions in a time when there was very little awareness about crimes committed by children. Standout achievements: When it was published, The Bad Seed raised questions about nature versus nurture, leaning toward the theory that nature ultimately prevails (not only was Rhoda a well-nurtured child, but later in the book, her mother, Christine, who was adopted, discovers that her own biological mother was a serial killer, which implies that a violent gene runs in their blood). Greatest strengths: When it comes to character development, The Bad Seed has it in spades… Most memorable scene: For me, it wasn’t a single scene, but the slow unveiling of Rhoda’s character - the things she did along the way that shocked (and oddly delighted) me Notable characters: Rhoda Penrose, the bad seed herself Christine Penmark, her long-suffering mother Leroy Jessup, the warped maintenance man who recognizes (and relates to) the evil that dwells in little Rhoda (dun, dun, DUN!) A caustic entertainment, in which March, along with his little fiend, consummates more than one kind of wicked retaliation.My favorite quote: “She will destroy us all. Penmark decides to handle the situation herself, and as she fails- the book ends on a note of ironic horror. When she is unable to stop still another murder-committed before her very eyes, Mrs. Penmark's disbelief is finally overcome, along with the reader's, and she turns to case histories- and family records- to discover that she was adopted and that her real mother was a notorious and successful killer, and that her daughter's homicidal impulse is inherited. William March' virulent talent is thoroughly at ease in a quietly horrifying little story in which Christine Penmark, an average, pleasant woman, alone while her husband is on a protracted business trip, discovers that their eight-year old daughter is a budding mass murderesses, with already two successes to her credit and no qualms about either one.

The bad seed book william march