The Worst Thing About My Sister

Jacqueline Wilson's The Worst Thing About My Sister is a funny family story for 9 year olds about two sisters who could hardly be more different.

What happens

Marty loves her tartan Converse boots, her pow! T-shirt and drawing comics about a superhero called Mighty Mart. Her big sister Melissa loves pink, lip gloss and a very strong rose hand cream (she smothers herself in it, so she's always slightly slippery).

The book opens with a fight over an eye pencil. Marty borrowed it to draw with and used most of it up. Melissa tore three pages of Mighty Mart to shreds. Cue rolling around on the carpet until Mum comes running.

Money is tight at home. Dad's travel agency is now the front room, and hardly anyone comes in. Mum works as the school secretary and has started making frilly party dresses to sell.

So when Marty is invited to a party she really doesn't want to go to, Mum makes her a blue silk dress with net petticoats and sends her off as a walking advert. Can you imagine anything worse, if you're Marty?

The party is a brilliant bit of misery. There's the polka with the dance teacher, a clown who thinks Marty is the birthday girl and a boy cousin whose ballet leaps are the only thing she likes all afternoon.

Marty tells the story herself and she's great company. She's cross and funny and very honest, and you're on her side from the first page. Her little rituals with Dad (they tickle each other's heads and say "Hey, Curlynob") are lovely.

Marty and Melissa are also made to share one room. Imagine how that goes!

It's worth knowing that the characters, grown-ups included, say some unkind things about a classmate's weight, and Mum threatens a spanking at one point. It's all in character, and it's the sort of thing some children will notice and want to talk about.

If you've got a reader with a sister who drives them up the wall (or who IS that sister), they'll recognise a lot of this.

What to read next

For another Jacqueline Wilson girl whose big sister is on her mind, try Jacqueline Wilson's Sleepovers. Daisy has just joined a club of five best friends at her new school, and she's dreading the day it's her turn to host a sleepover.