The source of much of the concerning content is the only son in the family, Oliver. He is pretty awful the whole book. When speaking about the incredibly unkind landlord much of the plot revolves around, Oliver remarks, “What a punk”. We see a few other remarks like this, such as “rotten”, “what a waste”, jerk face. When trying to figure out how to get the landlord to not evict them, Oliver suggests they “spray paint his door with disgusting bathroom words”. He says his sister’s singing is very bad (this type of thing happens quite often). A fort has orange Fanta, which “Oliver had to hide from his mother”. He sneaks to find where his mom has hidden the cookies and later he grabs the last cookie quickly so no one else can have it. He tells a sister, “Why don’t you tell me what you want me to say so I can say it and go on with my life?” Similarly, his friends add fake names to enlarge a petition. When mom tells him to be home in an hour he replies, “yeah, yeah”. When he knows his mother needs help with something important, he sneaks in and hides in his room. When she calls him, he puts on headphones and hopes that she is too tired to come get him. Oliver pretends to gag over his sister’s cooking. We would highly recommend you talk to your kids about this particular child’s character and not emulate it.
We see some similar behavior from other siblings. Oliver’s sister Jessie “got distracted pretending the gumdrops were (the landlord’s) eyes and she was stabbing them with the toothpick”. Isa and Jessie lie to mom to hide their efforts to save their home. The kids deceive a nice man, saying it was for a good reason (later shown to be remorseful). The twins have a “place to stash halloween candy before mama confiscates it”. Near the culmination, Isa tells the landlord, “You are a terrible, grouchy, horrible person. You are mean”. When two sisters are making up, the one who was wronged and upset makes the other sister promise more and more favors like covering chores before she forgives her and moves on (sadly this is meant to be a sweet scene, but sets a bad example).
With all of this unfortunate children behavior, and besides seemingly engaged parents, there is very little adult correction.
On a bit of a heavier note, a newspaper clipping tells the story of a mom and daughter who died when struck by a cab while crossing the road. This comes up a few times and is obviously a bit heavy and sad.
Other items to be aware of:
Jessie remarks “We’ve been so good, there might as well be halos over our heads!” Similarly, a set of neighbors are “perfect in every way”. A sister is called “perfect Isa”.
She also yells “fudge” repeatedly when something goes wrong. It is even referred to as an "expletive"
The term “miracle” is used flippantly a few times.
A neighbor smokes a cigarette.
A character says, “Your brownstone is the only reason I don’t run away and find new parents”
When it is revealed, the mean landlord lost his wife and child, Oliver speculates that maybe he killed them.
We hear a passing reference to werewolf and ghost. A sister says she believes there are monsters at night and no one corrects her.
The following terms are used: freaking, sucks, that blows, dummy