Available:*
Library | Material Type | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Englewood | Juvenile Book | SUNSHINE STATE 22-23 JGN MIDDLE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Punta Gorda | Juvenile Book | SUNSHINE STATE 22-23 JGN MIDDLE | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A story about the wonderfully challenging realities of being a family's middle kid.
Readers experience a day in the life of a middle kid, and all the highs and lows of a life in-between. When you're the middle kid, you're never the first nor the last to do anything. You're not the tallest or the smallest; you're babysitting one sibling but teased by the other. Stuck between a bossy older brother and a naive younger sister, Middle Kid feels left out of two worlds. But even if--and maybe especially because--it's always overlooked, this kid's own world is just as big and important as his siblings'.
* From author-illustrator Steven Weinberg--a middle kid himself!
* Gently funny and richly detailed
* Starting in the morning and ending at night, readers experience a full day in Middle Kid's shoes
Middle children have classically been sandwiched between the achievements of the older sibling and the needs of the younger one-- The Middle Kid gives them a time to shine!
* Perfect for beginning readers
* A great empathy read
* Fans of comical books about family
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2--4--Stuck in the middle is tough. When you're not bullied by your older brother, or in trouble for picking on your younger sister, you might as well be invisible. At first glance, it appears that the book is not only narrated by the kid, who is white, but illustrated by him, too. The end papers and short table of contents will make readers feel as if they have stumbled into the protagonist's doodled-on composition book, the diary of a wimpy middle kid. However, once the first chapter opens, the conceit is dropped. The artwork is polished and professional, a refined version of that found in Weinberg's illustrations for John Flannery's Beard Boy. Each brief chapter details a different time the protagonist feels slighted by his parents and siblings. Only in the book's final chapter does he finally feel like he fits in with his family. Characters are cleanly drawn and expressive, and their exuberant energy is barely contained by the lines that define them. However, the clean line art clashes with the amorphous watercolor backgrounds. For instance, the trees outside the library window look like green blobs in contrast to the sharp details of the building's interior; when characters venture outside, it looks like they have wandered into another book. Luckily, most of the book is set indoors. VERDICT Some flaws don't prevent this from being a worthy addition to collections in need of accessible, realistic graphic novel--like beginning readers.--Chance Lee Joyner, Haverhill P.L., MA
Publisher's Weekly Review
This engaging early chapter book uses a loose diary structure to capture episodes in a day in the life of a middle child. Not tough enough for the older brother but too rambunctious for the younger sister, an unnamed and subtly ungendered diarist feels "attacked from both sides." But with their abundant energy, love of drawing (it's "the only time no one tells me I am too loud"), and powers of creativity ("How do you come up with this stuff?" the brother asks), they are able to appreciate their place in their white family--despite the hardships of noisy sibling roommates, unfair ice-pop distribution, and their younger sister's limited tolerance for stuffed animal bungee jumping. With loose full-color mixed-media illustrations on every page, Weinberg (the AstroNuts series) employs a lively mix of design elements, such as comics-style speech bubbles and collaged details, including his own paintings and "art from a few centuries ago." Full of realistic sibling interactions, this is a spirited and relatable celebration of the delights--and recognition of the challenges--of being the middle kid. Ages 6--9. Agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & Pratt. (Mar.)
Horn Book Review
In nine brief day-in-the-life chapters, heavily illustrated and complete with time-stamps, Weinberg (himself a middle child) relates the challenges and rewards of the titular birth order position. From being unceremoniously woken up (big brother snores, little sister wails), to having a drawing ruined by spilled orange juice (general breakfast chaos), to being locked in Grandma's trunk (by big brother), to getting a time-out (for upsetting little sister), the morning is rough. Luckily, a library visit with Mom provides a reset for our protagonist, who takes control in the afternoon with imaginary play, Popsicles, and a solo art project. Weinberg's illustrations -- "watercolor, pencil, art from a few centuries ago, digital media, and a whole lot more" -- feature a happy, if harried, middle sib whose own exuberance and artistry come through in the present-tense, direct-address main text and on busy spreads with lots of kid-friendly details and easy-to-read speech bubbles. Although being "right in the middle" isn't always a walk in the park, "sometimes [it] is the best place to be," concludes our narrator, whose place in this boisterous, mischief-prone, and tight-knit family is comfortably assured. Elissa Gershowitz July/August 2021 p.127(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Episodes captured in helter-skelter cartoon sketches with occasional terse comments or dialogue record ups and downs in the life of a middle child of deftly unstated gender. In the morning, they have their breakfast-table drawing spoiled by both big brother's spilled milk and little sister's orange juice; later, they enlist the two in constructing a bed-sheet tent for a basement camp-out. Among other incidents, the tousled in-betweener learns the difference between a "time out" and taking a "breather," and experiences both the pleasure of occasionally getting away from sibs and the injustice of seeing them get the last two Popsicles in the box. The riffs and tiffs never last too long nor seem to point to any ominous underlying traumas or tensions, and a final scene of snores and snuffles in the dark ends the outing on a cozy note. Readers with siblings will easily recognize the patterns of microaggression and socialization on display here, and, like the young narrator, see that time alone and time together both have their rewards.
