Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One Book

Favorite author Judy Blume perfectly captures kids' feelings in these seven warm-hearted stories that offer a peek into the important relationship between a brother and sister. Meet The Pain: My sister's name is Abigail. I call her The Great One because she thinks she's so great. It's fun to make her mad. Who cares if she's in third grade and I'm just in first? That doesn't make her faster. Or stronger. Or even smarter. I don't get why mom and dad act like she's so special. Sometimes I think they love her more than me. Meet The Great One: My brother's name is Jacob Edward but everyone calls him Jake. Everyone but me. I call him The Pain because that's what he is. He's a first grade pain. And he will always be a pain--even if he lives to be one hundred years old. Even then, I'll still know more about everything. That's just the way it is. I don't get why mom and dad act like he's so special. Sometimes I think they love him more than me.

Publishers Weekly

This energetic, comical collaboration rounds up seven new stories about the spunky siblings from Blume's The Pain and the Great One. First-grader Jake calls his older sister the Great One, "because she thinks she's so great." Abigail, in turn, has dubbed him the Pain "because that's what he is." In distinct, equally sassy voices, the two take turns narrating the tales, which capture slices of Saturday life. The Great One provides an imaginative solution when her brother refuses to get a haircut (because he's afraid that the barber will cut his ears off), and describes her disastrous half-birthday sleepover party, at which the one friend who shows up refuses to spend the night. The Pain explains how he successfully wiggles out of playing goalie for his bungling soccer team, and tells of pet-sitting for his aunt's dog and giving the malodorous mutt a shampoo and a tooth-brushing. And the Great One proudly recounts how she finally overcomes her fear of falling and learns to ride a bike. ("I can jump rope, turn an almost-perfect cartwheel, and make pancakes with hardly any help. The Pain is hopeless at those things. So how come he can ride a bike?") Blume fills the duo's narratives with playful bickering, banter and baiting, while slyly and satisfyingly revealing their mutual affection. Further animating the kids' antics are Stevenson's (No Laughing, No Smiling, No Giggling) wispy illustrations, which feature many funny flourishes. Ages 5-9. (Aug.)