Renie the Meanie

This illustrated children's book is a morality play in rhyming verse, intended to teach children the importance of being nice and considerate to each other, or face the consequences. The main character, Renie the Meanie, is a self-centered brat who is the center of her own world and enjoys playing often cruel practical jokes on her playmates.

Her loving and caring parents tell her she should be kind to her peers and behave herself, but she ignores them and goes around hurting the feelings of her friends. When her mother and father warn her that Christmas is coming and Santa Claus is watching what she does, she scoffs at them.

Then, on Christmas Eve, true to her nature, instead of going to sleep and waiting for Christmas morning to arrive, bad little Renie sneaks downstairs to wait for Santa. To her surprise and shock, it is not Saint Nick who comes down the chimney, but Old Nick-the Devil himself-to give her the life-changing scare she needs in order to mend her ways and change her life for the better.