Old Misery, by James Sage, Illustrated by Russell Ayto

File James Sage's Old Misery in the category of depressing but funny children's stories.  Old Misery doesn't have a lot going for her.  She "ain't got nothing" except her cat, who's "about as worthless as a dog with fleas."  One more thing she does have is a great apple tree.  The problem is that her apples keep getting stolen.  One day she offers hospitality to a stranger who offers to grant a wish for her.  Her wish: that anyone stealing an apple from her tree would be stuck to it until she says they can go.

In a strangely satisfying way, this improved Old Misery's life immensely.  Once she released all the shocked and surprised apple thieves, which included "two goats, a rooster, one cow, a sow with litter, a fine lady in a yellow dress and the local vicar looking mighty wiffy-waffy," she no longer had a problem with apple thieves. Later on, she gets a visit from another stranger: Mr. Death.  She deals with him in a creative way, using her newly acquired apple tree power.  Pretty clever, but Mr. Death leaves her with a little something to remember him by. . . .

Old Misery learns that even when we get our wishes, we might end up worse off in the end.  Sage's story, accompanied by Russell Ayto's slightly absurd black and white (except for the red apples) drawings give Old Misery a throwback feel.  Certain books I remember reading as a kid, but whose titles I don't remember, had this same sort of creepy dark humor.  It's not enough to give a kid nightmares, but it's definitely more Tim Burton than Dr. Seuss.  I liked Old Misery, but it may not be for every kid.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!