1 The Pain and the Great One

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Spaghetti Book Club - Book Reviews by Kids for Kids

The Pain and the Great One

Written by Judy Blume

Illustrated by Irene Trivas


Reviewed by Harleen B. (age 7), Miguel F. (age 7) & Irmarie D. (age 8)


The Pain and the Great One

This book has two different points of view about an older sister and a younger brother. They call each other nicknames - the brother is ?The Pain? and the sister is ?The Great One.? The Great One doesn?t like the brother because he picks at his food. He doesn?t eat all his meat, but he still gets dessert. There?s lots of other things that bug the sister about her brother. The cat sleeps on The Pain?s bed, but the sister feeds her, so the Great One is jealous.

When the little brother tells his side of the story, he complains that his sister knows how to swim and he doesn?t. She calls him ?baby.? He feels sad because he can?t play the piano and his sister can. She can play songs well, and he can?t play well. The Pain messes up the bathroom with powder when he?s taking a bath. The Great One gets to hold the baby. She always gets the building blocks. She always gets to feed the cat.

Both the Pain and the Great One think that their parents love the other one better.

Harleen?s favorite part of this book is when the little brother knocks down his sister?s castle made out of blocks because it reminds Harleen of her own fights with her sister and brother.

Irmarie?s favorite part is when the cat sleeps on the Pain?s bed. This reminds Irmarie of her own cat sleeping on her bed and not her sister?s bed.

Miguel?s favorite part is when the Pain messes up the bathroom with powder because the picture is funny. Sometimes Miguel?s big sister annoys him when she makes up her own rules when they play basketball. His sister he feels is like ?The Pain?.

Harleen, Irmarie and Miguel recommend The Pain and the Great One. It?s fun to read because it has funny pictures and it will remind you of fights that you?ve had with your brothers or sisters. They think you should read the book to find out all the other funny things that the brother and sister say about each other.

We recommend this book to people that have brothers or sisters who fight a lot.