Our 6 Favorite Fictional Brats

David (David Gets in Trouble, by David Shannon)
Oh, David. This little guy can’t seem to stop himself from getting into trouble. He rides his skateboard through the house. He yanks the cat’s tail. He heads to school without pants. Throughout it all, David makes excuses, which is the height of his bratty behavior. “It’s not my fault!” “I didn’t mean to!” “It was an accident!” However, by the end of this story from Caldecott Honor artist and bestselling author David Shannon, David finds that apologizing makes him feel better, and most importantly, he’s still loved.

Eloise (Eloise, by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight)
Eloise is a 6-year-old who spends her childhood days roaming the very adult world of The Plaza Hotel. She’s rude, demanding, and entitled. She crashes weddings. She bangs on hotel room doors with sticks. She pours water down the mail chute. If you met this girl in real life, you’d never invite her over for another playdate. But Eloise is also delightfully imaginative, energetic, and self-confident, a girl who has been forced to grow up quickly while her mother travels the world. Eloise often toes that thin line between appealing and appalling—author/illustrator Maurice Sendak called her “that brazen loose-limbed delicious little girl monster”—but she always commands your attention.

Pigeon (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, by Mo Willems)
Are there aviary brats? Absolutely. When a bus driver takes a break from his route, he establishes just one rule: Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus. That’s only common sense, right? Well, this pushy pigeon wants to drive the bus anyway. He begs, pleads, cries, bargains, and even tries to bribe his way behind the wheel, before he spirals into an eye-bulging, feather-flying temper tantrum. This book is a hilarious way to teach kids the importance of saying no—and why we don’t give drivers’ licenses to birds.

Marlene (Marlene, Marlene, Queen of Mean, by Jane Lynch and Tricia Tusa)
Written by Glee actress Jane Lynch and told in lilting rhyme, this picture book focuses on a nasty bully—Marlene, the self-appointed queen of the playground, the sidewalk, and the school. There is no place safe from Marlene, even the bathroom, until one day, a boy named Freddy asks why Marlene is given so much power. From that point on, Marlene discovers it’s easy to be a brat, but it’s far more difficult to be kind.

Pierre (Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue, by Maurice Sendak)
No matter what anybody says, stubborn, bratty Pierre just doesn’t care. “What would you like to eat?” “I don’t care!” “Some lovely cream of wheat?” “I don’t care!” “Don’t sit backwards on your chair.” “I don’t care! “Or pour syrup on your hair.” “I don’t care!” By the time a lion comes along, you’ll root for the carnivore and cheer when he makes a feast of Pierre.

Calliou (Caillou: The Broken Castle, Joceline Sanschagrin, Pierre Brignaud)
Ever since my husband and I had a child, we’ve been making an effort to find alternative words for our more colorful language. So Caillou is what we might call a “juicebag.” This bald, whiny toddler, (also the focus of an eponymous Canadian television series), is selfish. He says hurtful things. He has a total disregard for others. But for all Caillou’s faults, every Caillou book comes to a gentle resolution and addresses behavioral problems, which can be helpful for young readers. Best of all, the books don’t come with the show’s earworm theme song.
Did we forget someone? Do you disagree with one of our picks? Share your thoughts in the comments!