The author does an excellent job of describing the dynamic of frustration building to anger as so often happens between parent and child and she also sensitively describes a child's fear of her own wishing. Best of all, Joosse shows her parent-child audience a way to heal and a happy reconciliation at the end of the book. Many things children feel are complex. I have a strong sense of her working things out just as Jamaica does when she finds a raggedy dog in the park and wants to own it. Remorse and guilt and coveting and embarrassment are awfully big emotions for a small child, but Jamaica works them through to a satisfying conclusion.
Emotional tones are different in different homes.
One of the best proofs of this is Jenny Hessell's Staying at Sam's. There's kissing, no guardedness about nudity, and a shared family bed. This is an excellent showing of two ends of the sensitive spectrum , a book to begin discussions about what your family is like. The best thing of all about this book is that the author presents these homes with no judgement about either life style. And emotional tones are the same the world over.