The World’s Worst Children

THE WORLD’S WORST CHILDREN

By Simone Sokol

 

The book that I read over the summer is called The World’s Worst Children written by David Walliams. (In the book there are several stories, but I decided to pick “Bertha the Blubberer.”) The main characters are: William, Bertha’s brother; Bertha; and her parents. The setting of the story is their house. The two main problems are: Number one, Bertha would wail. She could make herself have puddles for something little, like a leaf falling to the ground. Number two, Bertha and her lying, because she could make herself cry in a heartbeat. Poor William had to suffer her blubbering: “William pinched me hard on the arm!” or “William kicked me!” Sometimes she would elaborate on the lie by actually pinching herself to show her brother’s “beastliness.” The worst thing is every “crime” William would do, Bertha got triple pudding. Her favorite dessert. (Fun fact about Bertha: She once tried to sell her brother for a piece of chocolate cheesecake.)

 

The thing that changed Bertha’s lovely world of pudding was one day, to protect her from her brother, her parents were out in the garden; but they were watching Bertha. To get her brother in trouble, Bertha started pulling out her hair—but her parents saw what she was doing and didn’t come. So she kept doing it until she was bald. Her parents scolded her, and from them on they sided with her brother, even when he really did do something wrong. “No pudding for you young lady…      ever again!” said her father. That quote helped me understand how Bertha had blubbered one too many blubbers.

 

I loved The World’s Worst Children to bits because it was fun to find out how far David Walliams would go and what ideas he would come up with. It was also fun to notice how Bertha got treated when her brother was the favorite. One example is at the end when Bertha would get pinched, but nobody believed her. Another example is when her father scolded Bertha and she was so satisfied because she had a stash of chocolate under her bed, until he said the words “ever again.”

A third example is when Bertha and William were mean to each other, to see the difference. (They are related after all. They did the same tricks!) What kind of reader would enjoy this book is one that likes to be silly and who likes a good cliffhanger. Also toilet talk like “To reveal the queen sitting on the toilet!” I would rate this book four and a half stars because there is not another setting other than her house. But a million more stars anyway (if I could). 🙂 In other words, I really liked the book.