Texas guest, I agree.
Children like their gore. One of the first things I remember from childhood is the rhyme about bloody greasy grimy gopher guts, and there I was without a spoon or a straw! First grade or before. Heard throughout the West, and I'm sure elsewhere.

Children, especially in the Prairie provinces, hear it from their grandparents, who were given a reward for every gopher tail they brought in (Richardson's ground squirrel, once a plague on prairie farms).
I still hear it from kids- and parents pretend to be grossed out- and the child will add another verse, provoking more laughter.

Apparently all of the tales about the Carrion Crow's bearing on King Charles I or II are myth, but that doesn't kill a good story- nor should it.

"Modern Materials"- so much gloopy politically correct pap is entering the curriculum. History is a lost cause in schools pre-university because of it.

No wonder children look for the goriest computer games they can find.