Ten Rules for Living with My Sister (review)

Nine-year-old Pearl Littlefield can't understand her thirteen-year-old sister, Lexie, who always seems to be mad at Pearl. Furthermore, thanks to the Three Bad Things that happened last year at school (wearing Mickey Mouse ears for show-and-tell when there was no show-and-tell, wetting her pants in class, and getting separated from her group on a field trip), Pearl is also friendless, except for first-grader Justine, who lives across the hall in the same apartment building. Pearl's relationship with her sister gets both trickier and deeper when they must share a room to accommodate their grandfather, Daddy Bo, who needs care while he recovers from a nasty fall. Gradually, it becomes clear that Daddy Bo won't be returning to his home, and his increasing forgetfulness results in an impromptu bus trip with Pearl back to his now-sold home in New Jersey. Although the pacing occasionally lags, Martin manages to juggle all of her plot pieces effectively, and Pearl's voice is believable in its youthful bewilderment at the actions of both her older sister ("I didn't know why she got so embarrassed about some things, but she did, and when she was embarrassed she got mad. Usually at me") and Daddy Bo. The situation with Daddy Bo provides genuine drama and emotion, just as Pearl's internal commentary and the comic family situations provide genuine humor. The imaginative, artistic Pearl is a likable character, and girls with sisters will easily recognize themselves in either Pearl or Lexie. Fans of Megan McDonald's Sisters Club books or Beverly Cleary's Ramona series will particularly enjoy this slice of sibling life.