Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One

Blume, Judy
Stevenson, James
2nd grade and up
Fiction
Random House, 2007

This book is about a brother and sister and how they relate to one another. Each chapter introduces a new theme such as a soccer game, birthday party, dog sitting and many other situations that the brother and sister have to learn to get along with one another. The Great One is what is what Jacob calls his sister because he thinks that she feels that the world revolves around her. The Pain is what Abigail calls her little brother because she feels that that is what he is-a pain. The book starts off with “Meet the Pain” and I thought that this was a really humorous way for the author to start the book out with. The brother and sister are two years apart which seems like a very large gap according to the kids. Jacob has a very interesting personality, he only eats white things and when he gets his hair cut he has to wear earmuffs so that the hairdresser does not cut off his years. Abigail thinks that this is just ridiculous. Also in the book it talks about Jacobs attempt to play soccer. He starts out playing goalie, but chases after a dog and the other team scores. There is a lot of humor in this book and this really keeps the readers attention. The Pain enjoys spying on The Great One and this annoys her to no end. He listens in on her phone conversations and eventually gets caught. Abigail is not happy! Then Abigail decides to celebrate her half birthday. She has her friend Emily come over and they make princess tiaras and eat chocolate cake. Abigail gets very annoyed because her little brother comes downstairs to get ice cream and he is not supposed to be around. Then Abigail gets upset because her friend Emily, who has never been to a sleepover, wants to go home. Towards the end of the book, they get to dog sit their aunt’s dog, Olive. Olive is a very smelly pooch. Jacob eventually plays dentist with Olive. The family goes on a road trip to return Olive home, one hour away. Here is where Abigail is taught how to ride her bike by Mitch, her uncle. The very last chapters end with last words from the great one, the pain, and Fluzzy the cat.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I used to read Judy Blume’s books all the time when I was younger. I think she did a wonderful job with incorporating humor to keep the readers attention. She also did a really good job with her language and making it really seem as though these children were talking. These are real life situations that children tend to deal with, a pesky little brother and an older sister who thinks she knows it all. There were just enough illustrations in the book to keep it flowing. It looks like the illustrator used pen to draw the pictures. I felt like all of the pictures in the book had significance. The pictures are really simple but it is just enough.

I would use this book in my classroom, especially if I am teaching children how to read chapter books. This book is a great beginner chapter book for elementary aged children. The content is right where they can understand it, and still be challenged. I hope to have many of Judy Blume’s books in my classroom because they were a favorite of mine when I was a young girl.