A theatrical girl with a penchant for being bad tries to be good in this wry exploration of the dynamics of behavior. As a little girl, Hattie had been “quite good” until she realized it involved doing boring things like eating mushy food and going to bed early. So Hattie turned bad, “really, really bad.” Her exciting bad behavior makes her a star with other kids but unpopular with their parents, who tell their kids to avoid her. An outcast, the wily Hattie retaliates by becoming as good as she has been bad. Indeed, she’s so good at being good, parents love her while their kids are fed up. So when she wins the “best-behaved child ever” competition, Hattie has the perfect response. Berger’s lively cartoon-like illustrations highlight overly dramatic Hattie and flesh out her escapades in black outlines, bold colors and varying types and font sizes. When Hattie’s bad, she splashes orange across the page, and when she’s good, everything’s primly pink. A true scion of Eloise, the shameless Hattie’s so bad she’s just great! (Picture book. 3-5)
