Friday, January 31, 2020

The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume illustrated by Irene Trivas


Judy Blume is famous for her book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. The Pain and the Great one is her only picture book. It was published in 1974.

Recently there was a post on #classroombookaday where the teacher asked about books that show point of view. I think The Pain and the Great one is a perfect way to explore this idea as we hear from a big sister aged 8 talking about her brother aged 6 and then the little brother talking about his sister.

Here is the publisher blurb:

MEET THE PAIN My sister's name is Abigail. I call her The Great One because she thinks she's so great. Who cares if she's in third grade and I'm just in first? 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. I'll always know exactly what he's thinking. That's just the way it is. 

You can see the whole book on a video reading here.


"I think they love him better than me."


"I think they love her better than me."


There were four chapter book spin offs after this picture book. Here are two of them:



My favourite Judy Blume book is Freckle Juice.  I collected lots of copies in my previous school as a way to explore cover designs.  Here are a few you could use with a class:





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