It's meant to be funny, but it's not.
1 star
I would feel uncomfortable giving this to children because it's a book of mixed messaging. The protagonist is a girl who does things that are largely kind of rude (stapling her brother's hair to his pillow, intentionally putting a fly in ice cubes, gluing her brother's slippers to the floor), but it's framed in a way that feels like it's trying to make you feel bad that she can't? Which I don't think was the intention, but the failure to really highlight the negative consequences of the behaviours gives it that feeling.
There are two points where the girl says she's "not allowed to walk backwards (to school/from school) anymore," and besides the sign saying "don't walk"... it doesn't show much about how it can be bad for you. I'm not looking for there to be a scene of the girl getting hit by a car, but it just feels …
I would feel uncomfortable giving this to children because it's a book of mixed messaging. The protagonist is a girl who does things that are largely kind of rude (stapling her brother's hair to his pillow, intentionally putting a fly in ice cubes, gluing her brother's slippers to the floor), but it's framed in a way that feels like it's trying to make you feel bad that she can't? Which I don't think was the intention, but the failure to really highlight the negative consequences of the behaviours gives it that feeling.
There are two points where the girl says she's "not allowed to walk backwards (to school/from school) anymore," and besides the sign saying "don't walk"... it doesn't show much about how it can be bad for you. I'm not looking for there to be a scene of the girl getting hit by a car, but it just feels like a weird quip.
The other thing I don't like is the ending? Where if she was just continuing to be really obnoxious and trying to figure out new misadventures, it also wouldn't suffer from the awkward framing as much. It'd at least frame everything as being annoying and her either as not recognising it as being obnoxious or as her knowing these things bother people but trying them anyway. But the ending says that she's "allowed to say the opposite of what she means forevermore," with the illustration of her hiding a stapler behind her back while hugging her mother and saying "I'm sorry." This is just... really off? Because again, it relies so heavily on reading it with someone else who will point out why this is really negative behaviour, especially as it shows that she doesn't feel bad for any of the pain her brother or mother have gone through in the previous examples.
Perhaps useful for teaching kids good and/or safe behaviours if you read it with them? But I think there are better ways of doing that, and I don't think this is a good book to read on their own.
Oh, it also feels like the story is drawing from Dennis the Menace but isn't as amusing because the acts aren't fleshed out and just seem more bothersome.
Additional thoughts found here: eldritch.cafe/@whatanerd/111476908098590779