Two Cool for School: Cool Zone with the Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume

Sometimes two heads are better than one, even if it is your big sister or (heavens forbid) your little brother who helps you out of a sticky situation at school. Jacob and Abigail (a.k.a. the Pain and the Great One) are back in a fast follow-up to last year's Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One (Pain & the Great One), which re-introduced Judy Blume's popular picture-book characters to early chapter readers.

In Cool Zone with the Pain and the Great One (Pain & the Great One) Blume shows Jake and Abigail, still sibling rivals at home, pulling together to help each other at school. In the opening chapter, Abigail ruluctantly agrees to keep up with the baby tooth Jake loses on the bus on the way to school. Ever conscientious, Abby even avoids jumping rope at recess to prevent dropping the tooth, but scatterbrained Jake loses it before bedtime and and has nothing to leave for the Tooth Fairy. Reluctantly Abigail agees to write the fairy a signed excuse note in return for half of Jake's take from the tooth, but when she demands half of the dollar Jacob finds under his pillow the next morning, she is disgusted when Jake grabs the scissors and whacks the bill in two. "Fifty-Fifty, right?" he says with a grin.

In Jacob's chapter titled "The Soggy Egg Roll," Abigail rescues Jake and his new magnifying glass from the school bully Roger Culley, and in "Bruno's Ear," Abigail has to break away from her gym class to salvage Jake's beloved purple elephant, taken to school for "Bring Your Pretend Pet to School Day," from the jaws of a huge runaway dog named Baby, whose owner didn't quite understand the "pretend" part of the assignment.

Jake returns the favor when Abigail decides to change her name to Violet Rose. Her "Two Flower" name starts a fad for serial name changing among her friends. Trendy new Jasmines, Sierras, Keeshas, and Tiffanys are showing up daily until Jake helps "Violet Rose" find a face-saving way back to her real name again. As always, Fluzzy the Cat gets the last chapter to himself when the bell the family puts on his collar begins to drive everyone crazy.

Apparently, Blume has been busy. Book 3 of this series, Going, Going, Gone! with the Pain and the Great One (The Pain and the Great One) is set for publication on August 8, 2008. Notable cartoonist/illustrator James Stevenson (of New Yorker fame) provides just-right illustrations for this gently light-hearted series. Beginning chapter readers will enjoy these tales of a big sister and little brother who find that having a sibling as backup comes in handy--especially at school.