SOUPY SATURDAYS WITH THE PAIN & THE GREAT ONE

Once again, Blume shows off her pitch-perfect understanding of childhood anxieties and family dynamics. In alternating first-person chapters, siblings Jacob (the Pain) and Abigail (the Great One) describe a series of Saturday adventures, including visits to Mr. Soupy’s hair cuttery, an unsuccessful sleepover and lively dog-sitting. First-grader Jake learns to like soccer league when he gets to play something besides goalie, and third-grader Abigail finally masters riding a bike. Each short chapter begins with a picture of the speaker, and all are liberally illustrated with Stevenson’s sketches. Aimed at a younger audience than many of her books, the humor and convincing dialogue will keep new readers going. Jacob and Abigail first appeared in “The Pain and the Great One” in Marlo Thomas’s collection Free to be . . . You and Me (1974); that story was illustrated and republished on its own with the same title in 1984. This welcome new collection should attract a new generation of readers. (Fiction. 6-9)