The Pain and the Great One

Judy Blume's The Pain and the Great One is a very short book for 6 year olds, told twice over by a brother and a sister who cannot stand each other.

What happens

The sister goes first, and she has a list.

Her brother won't get out of bed. He has to be carried into the kitchen and only opens his eyes when he smells his cornflakes. He's six. He's meant to dress himself. He picks at his dinner and gets pudding anyway. He powders the entire bathroom and still doesn't get his face clean.

Worst of all, he's two years younger and gets to stay up just as late as she does.

So she asks about that, and her parents agree, and they put the Pain to bed and leave her downstairs with them. And there they sit, reading. Nothing happens. She waits and waits, then announces she's going to bed too, because without the Pain there's nothing to do.

Then the cat sleeps on his bed instead of hers, even though she's the one who feeds it, and that is the meanest thing of all.

Halfway through, the book turns round and gives him his say.

His sister thinks she's so great. She can play real songs on the piano, the kind you recognise. She can work the can opener, which is why the cat likes her best. She remembers phone numbers and never rings the wrong person. When her friends come over they build whole cities out of blocks and nobody wants him zooming his lorries through them.

Both of them, by the end of their turn, have reached exactly the same conclusion about which one their parents love more.

It's a perfect read-aloud. The lines are short, one thought each, and it sounds like a real child grumbling rather than a grown-up doing a child's voice. Two people can take a side and read it at each other. (Younger siblings should probably get the second half. They'll enjoy the revenge.)

Nothing here needs a warning. The nastiest thing anyone does is spit water and pull hair at the swimming pool.

Do watch for the American words. It's Mom and Daddy, first grade and third grade, and a garbage man rather than a bin lorry.

What to read next

For another child who is absolutely certain they've been hard done by, you'll find Horrid Henry's Underpants here too. Francesca Simon gives Henry a brother called Perfect Peter, who eats his vegetables, asks for seconds and tells on him.