My Naughty Little Sister and Bad Harry
Reviewed Mar 16, 2025 on The Litt Review.
This was a very short children’s book - at 130 pages, it took me around half an hour. It was broken down into chapters, various anecdotes about the author’s sister. At times, these ran into the anthropologically interesting. For instance, there was a chapter dedicated to her sister learning about washing day, where some women washed all of the clothes for a boarding house on the same day, using a wringer, a copper kettle, and a large shed wash-house. They hung the sheets inside for when the weather was inclement. That was actually a bit interesting.
What I felt reading this book was a small constant sadness. Dorothy started each chapter talking about her naughty little sister, but Dorothy herself was somehow absent. One wondered if she wanted a little sister, but couldn’t imagine writing herself in. One also wonders why her sister was naughty at all; she didn’t seem naughty to me. Not wanting to eat bread crusts is a preference. Looking into a flower vase and making faces at the shining reflection isn’t naughty, it’s fun and interesting and it’s novel for the child.
No, the naughty people in this book were the adults, who seemed to consist on a diet of shaming and blaming. The instructions were rare. The learnings were minimal. Dorothy’s sister was labelled naughty right out of the gate. Bad Harry was, too.
In short, it was not a very good book. I bought it as a joke book to put in the guest bedroom - “My Naughty Little Sister and Bad Harry” sounds, rather, uh, naughty. I couldn’t conscience offering up books to guests that I hadn’t at least skimmed myself. As a sleeping aid, the book was not bad - my mind forfeited consciousness as soon as it could, trying to cleanse itself of reading it. But as a book for a guest’s shelf: well, I don’t think anyone needs to read this book again.
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