Reviews

Dee Dee and Me by Amy Schwartz

lannthacker's review

3.0

A story about a bossy and sometimes unkind older sister. Lil sis uses her growing brain to resolve the situation without fighting or tears by first enduring, then ignoring her sister, and finally standing up for herself.

tashrow's review

4.0

Told from the point of view of the younger sister, Hannah has had enough of her older sister Dee Dee. Dee Dee always gets her way, gets the best seat, eats the best food. She manages to do it in sneaky ways that seem nice as first but don’t end up that way for Hannah. So Hannah decides to run away and packs up all the things she doesn’t want to share with Dee Dee. In the end, she decides not to really run away because she can’t find her teddy bear. But all alone, she spends time with the things she had packed up. When Dee Dee appears having finally done something really nice for Hannah, Hannah puts her foot down and makes some new rules for them to play together. This is a book that captures sibling relationships to a tee, or perhaps to a Dee.

Schwartz infuses her story with touches of humor that make Dee Dee’s tyrannical attitudes more funny than threatening. Both Hannah and Dee Dee have strong personalities and individual perspectives. Schwartz does a good job of telling Hannah’s story clearly but also making sure that Dee Dee is not vilified entirely. The art is vivid and colorful, displaying a family home filled with small details and lots of flowers. It is a home that you want to visit and play in.

This is a superb telling of two siblings at odds that is filled with humor and charm. Appropriate for ages 3-5.