The Pain and the Great One

One of the great gifts of Judy Blume is that she doesn't lie to kids. Her books are refreshingly - and sometimes painfully - honest. As a kid, I sure appreciated it. Too many books lie, because they think children can't hear the truth. They ignore the fact that children already *know* the truth many times.

The truth in this book is that sometimes, having a brother or sister just sucks. The lie that most people would try to give is the moral that you really, deep down have to love your sibling after all - right?

Well, Ms. Blume skirts very *close* to that moral, when each child realizes midway through a rant that getting a special privilege without their sibling isn't any fun, and, indeed, their parents try to push that moral on them - show more but no, that "no fun" bit is just another reason why their sibling is awful! And the next day they remembered, not the moral, but the rivalry.

Each child's rant about their brother/sister ends with the thought that maybe their parents like the other one best. I think we've all felt that. I did just last week, and I'm an adult :) There's no reassurance here except the other sibling saying the same thing.

If you're uncomfortable with this sort of presentation of facts, I'd suggest you borrow the book from the library before buying. Otherwise, I firmly suggest you buy this book for your own library. show less

I really enjoyed this book since I could relate to some of the aspects of the book. The first thing I liked was it showed both sides of the story which is refreshing to see since most of the time you only get one side of the story. I also liked that the book was split into two parts so that way you saw one whole side before you saw the other. This is a great book for students who are learning about argumentative writing so that way they can see different versions of it. The overall message of this book is that you may see something one way but someone else will see the same situation in a different way.

This book is a great book about point if view with the view of a big sister and little brother. Both siblings think that their parents love the other one more than the other. They both pose a good argument on why they think this as well. It was very fun to see both sides of the stories and see how the events changed through the voices of the sister and brother. This is a good book to give to siblings to read to make aware that just because you think something, does not mean they are thinking the same thing.

Being that Judy Blume is one of my favorite authors, it was no surprise that I enjoyed reading this book. One reason I liked this book was because of how Blume wrote it from two different perspectives, the sisters point of view and the brothers point of view. She first starts out with the sister complaining about "the pain" and everything the pain, or her little brother, and everything he does to annoy her. Then she changes the perspective of the story and the brother then begins to complain about "the great one," or his big sister, and everything she does to annoy him. This allows the reader to get a full insight on each characters' perspective and point of view. Another reason I liked this book was because of the relatable plot; it show more can be assumed that most readers have siblings and/or an extended relative that they have a rivalry with. This story addresses that issue very well and does so in a comical way, making the read even more enjoyable. The big idea of this story is that even though siblings may be annoying, you can't live without them. show less

I really loved this book! I liked this book for two reasons. One reason being the point of view used. There are two chapters in this book called "The Pain" and "The Great One". The first chapter is written from the sister’s point of view and the second chapter is from the brother’s point of view. It was neat to see what they see and the way they interpret it. In Chapter "The Pain" the sister says "And I really would like to know why the cat sleeps on the Pain's bed instead of mine. Especially since I am the one who feeds her. That is the meanest thing of all!" and then in the next chapter from the brother’s point of view, he reads " My sister thinks she's so great just because she can work the can opener. Which means she gets to show more feed the cat. Which means the cat likes her better than me just because she feeds her." They both think the cat likes the other more. The second reason I liked this book was because of the illustrations. They were mostly white based and the only splats of color was put into different parts to emphasize what was going on in the story. For example, there is really no background in any of the photos the characters and objects are the only things that have color. The big idea of this book is that there are always two sides of each story and it can be interpreted differently depending on the reader. show less

I liked this book for a couple of reasons. First, I liked the structure of the book. The fact that the book is split in to two parts makes it enjoyable for any sibling to read. I like this because I was able to see the first person perspectives of the children (one the little brother and one the older sister). Another part that I liked was the illustrations. Also, the language used in the book was what made me enjoy this story. For example, there were parts that were patterned and were in the tone of what would be an 8-year-old girl (the voice of the first half of the book). The girl would say things such as, “He’s six. He’s in the First Grade. But he’s just so pokey.” This language is relatively young in the sense that there show more is not much complexity. So, young readers are able to relate. The overall big idea of this story is the importance of family and recognizing two sides of the story. show less

This book touches on the very common and relatable issues felt by most siblings at one time or another. The older sister sees her brother as nothing but a pain, yet realizes that things aren't as much as fun with out him around. The younger brother sees his sister as this great one who thinks she is so much better than he is. I love this book because it expresses that fact that there are two sides to every story and experience. It also shows that when it comes to family, sometimes we can't live with them... but can't live without them either.