Whatever happened to "And they lived happily ever after"?

Bad End for true tears?

Question: Why is it that picture books that pop up in anime tend to become utterly depressing? Aren't these books supposedly meant for young children who ought to be sheltered from the horrible horrible things in life (At least till they enter their emo teen years)? Wouldn't it be bothersome for the adults to explain to their young impressionable children who are probably sobbing their little hearts out that, yes, sometimes life can be cruel to the chickens/dangos/fictional fantasy creatures of the world blah blah blah... Or was I totally mislead and the truth is that these books are really for depressed adults who are too lazy to read something with too many words and no pictures? Is it a ploy by publishing companies to milk tears out of people without going through the hassle of making a visual novel with sad girls and hoping that a certain production company in Kyoto animates it?

Shouldn't they be watching stuff like Animal Yokocho and Zenryoku Usagi instead? =P

(Highly irrelevant post inspired by Shinichiro's first draft of "Raigomaru to Jibeta no Monogatari" from true tears. Other depressing picture book ideas can be referenced from Chobits (a bit too cryptic for the average child, considering it was written for a robot) and School Rumble Nigakki. I don't exactly recall if the picture book in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien was actually depressing in any way, but it sure didn't do Haruka much happiness... And don't get me started on novels like The Dog of Flanders and Chihiro's novel in ef...)