This early reader chapter book has delights aplenty for emerging independent readers. The first-person narrator describes the ups and downs of being both an artist and the middle child in a bustling family. The comic book and graphic novel elements that the eponymous middle child (and, by extension, author Weinberg use to tell his story add a witty “meta” element.

The story unfolds in a simple "day in the life" format (it both begins and ends with a darkened room and "snoring" noises) that’s peppered with everyday activities such as eating breakfast, going to the library, and enjoying backyard popsicles. (Guess who doesn't get his full share?)

Throughout the story, the middle child deals with an obnoxious older brother and a whiney little sister. Author Weinberg knows that family is a complicated thing, though. The middle child may not always see eye-to-eye with his siblings, but the three of them still do things together. Creative kids will appreciate that what makes the middle child special--even to his siblings--is his imagination and his artistic talent.

The heart of the story is the middle child finding an abandoned treehouse, which he feels is his alone. Though he keeps the discovery of the actual treehouse to himself (he needs a “breather”—a concept he learned from his mother), he shares his “dream” treehouse with his siblings through a series of drawings, providing them with an imaginative play opportunity.

A funny story but also a nice meditation on the delicate balance between being part of a family and enjoying solitary time.

Cute childrens' book about how a middle child feels! The illustrations are very beautiful!

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book explores the theme of finding and embracing your place within the family structure. Being the middle child is not always easy, but throughout the book the main character is able to recognize that sometimes being the middle child is the best. The book is wonderfully illustrated with images that relate to the story and give the reader lots to explore. As a teacher, this provides great opportunities for students to preview the book and make predictions based on the pictures that they see. It is also a great opportunity for students to make self-to text connections to build greater understanding and therefore building their own skills as a reader as they are entertained by the author.

I was hoping this would be a lovely picture book I could share with my class, however it is more of an individual reading book that we might use in our reading scheme.

The illustrations are great and very engaging, and I like how few words there were on each page, making it less intimidating to early readers. I also like the mixture of text and speech bubbles.

The story line was okay, if a little simple, but easy enough for children to keep track of while also having to use skills of decoding.

All in all an okay book, but not what I was expecting or hoping for.

ARC kindly received from Net Galley and Chronical books in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first comic book in ages and I gotta say it's kinda fun. I mean yeah its childish but that's because it's written for children. The art is really cute too

The Middle Kid is a children's book where the main character is the middle child in a family. It is well written and the illustrations are great! I personally like that it almost looks like a journal or diary that was written in a marble composition notebook. It's fun story that shows the ups and downs of being the middle child. Maybe your brother picks on you and your sister whines too much. Maybe they get to do things that you can't do. But in the end you discover that there are things that you can do that they can't. I really enjoyed this story and would highly recommend it to others, whether they are the middle child or not.

This is a great book for younger readers. It has short sentences and phrases with lots of pictures so it doesn’t overwhelm children by having too many words on each page. It has lots of interesting illustrations that are funny for kids to see. The book is about a family and who makes up this family so the young reader can get to know everyone. My 7 year olds really enjoyed this one and asked if it was part of a series so they could read more about them!

Free ARC from Netgalley.

This is a book about being the middle child. The middle child is never first at something, and never last. It's just there, in the middle. Sometimes old enough to be appreciated by the older sibling, sometimes childish enough for playtime with the youngest.

As a middle child myself, I had to read this! It's got colorful and nice graphics, and the story is relatable. I think this could be a good book for a child that's a middle child.

Adorable Little book!!! 🥰
Perfect for children!!🥳
As a youngest child I found it difficult to relate to the main character 😅
Nevertheless, I found this book hilarious 😂

Every middle child needs to read this book! My middle child and I read it together and her comments included "he's just like me!", "that's exactly what I would do!", and she felt like the writer really understood what it feels like to be the middle child - trying to be grown up to fit in with the eldest, but trying to play as if they're younger with the littlest sibling. She could really identify with the traits of a middle child as accurately depicted in this book - a flair for creativity and a love of drawing and reading, and an definite need for some space of their own and alone time - or a "breather", as this book puts it. As a parent, this book has help me reflect on and remember the things a middle child needs, particularly the one on one time they, though nobody's fault, probably rarely get with a parent. A must-read!

The Middle Kid is whimsically decorated and there is a lot going on in each page. It's a fun read for a younger reader, but I felt like the illustrations were a bit too busy. The story takes place in speech bubbles and text underneath the image, which makes it hard to follow the path of the text.

*I received an electronic ARC from Net Galley to review. This book is set to release March of 2021.*

The Middle Kid, by Steven Weinberg, is a "day in the life" of a much-maligned middle child, as written and illustrated by the same. A promising premise, this topic isn't often written about in kids' books, and as the mom of three, I was intrigued. What did this middle child have to say?

The story begins with a colorful table of contents bordered by fun, childlike illustrations. Next comes an introductory letter to the reader from the main character explaining the perils of being a middle child. Each chapter then relates - complete with crayoned time stamp - the day's events in the earnest (and so cute) voice of the middle kid.

Funny, relatable, and honest, with great kid-style art, I wanted to love this book...but I will settle for "like". I found the unpredictable, random switching between graphic-style speech bubbles and paragraph-style text a little confusing and hard to follow (although some readers LOVE that). Also, I was a little bothered by some unanswered questions in the text - how did the middle kid get out of the box when his older brother shut him in it? Did the oldest and youngest really give up and not try to see what was behind the tree in the forest? And did the parents REALLY not do anything about the bee sting on the little kid except hand her a popsicle?! Man, I missed the parenting instruction manual somehow....

But every family - and reader - is different. This cute picture book is definitely worth a try, especially if you have a "middle kid" who always seems to be stuck in between everyone and everything. I definitely saw traces of my own three babes in this story. Happily, our narrator concludes, "Sometimes [the middle] is the best place to be."

You don't have to be a middle kid to enjoy this book. Loved the popsicle math, anyone with siblings can relate.
I can say I preferred the second half of the book over the first half. I wish the scene on the cover involving pizza was in the story. Still a good book to read with my son.

The Middle Kid by Steven Weinberg is the story of The Middle Kid of a family as he struggles with being both too much and not enough at the same time. His family complains he's too loud, and his brother points out he's not tough enough. Throughout the course of a regular day, a trip to the library, and a stuffed animal bunjee jumping competition, he finds out that who he is is exactly right for his role the family.

This book is perfect for young-readers. It is full of beautiful, vibrant illustrations, and with a very readable text. The story is simple enough that it is relatable to anyone, but has enough heart that any reader will be rooting for The Middle Kid throughout his day. I really enjoyed this read, and am looking forward to its release!

This was a refreshing take on a topic that is not often talked about, life for the "middle kid", the one squeezed in-between. I have enjoyed the utterly creative approach here - how this was not at all, written or illustrated in a old-fashioned way, but rather freely. This way, I am certain that it will help children to relate to the story of this lovely middle kid and his problems and sorrows immediately. Thank you! for providing a free e-ARC of this book.

The youngest child is always cute, and the oldest child is always the leader, which leaves no space for the middle kid. This is a funny take on the middle kid situation, which I was once in myself.

The child who is telling this story shows how life is always unfair for the middle kid, until he discovers that he can do things that his younger sister and older brother can not, and then they want part of the action.

Cute, story, told with lots of pictures, so it is almost a picture book, but also seems to be an early reader.


<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. </em>

I surprised my niece with this storybook! She loved the colourful, eye catching illustrations as we moved through each page. She was excited to read this, as her mother is a middle child , so wanted to know what it’s like as she’s an only child. As we ventured through the book there were times as the reader I found the storyline was difficult to keep up with and noticed my 5 year old niece was also feeling this way. To us it felt like it was missing a part, we did love the ending with the tent and the colourful drawings!

Thanks for the after school read!

Manic mixed media, child-like illustrations take you through a day in the life of a middle kid. Sandwiched between a bigger brother (who can be a bit bossy) and a little sister (who can be a bit needy), the middle kid just wants to draw. After taking a breather (from the chaos of his siblings) at the library with his mom, he has an adventure for which he is perfectly suited. There is a lot going on visually in the world around the middle kid, making this a good choice for repeat readings.

This book was really cute! As a disclaimer, I am not a middle kid, nor do I have a middle kid (or any kids!) I am the oldest of two, so I don't have any experience to relate to being a middle child. But I still felt I could relate to this little boy! He was rightfully frustrated when no one listened to him, or when he got fewer popsicles than his siblings! I really loved that he loved going to the library to take a breather. Great quote that resonates with adults too: "A breather is like a time-out that you want to take." The illustrations were also very well done - colorful and detailed and fun to explore.

I didn't enjoy this book at all and the illustrations were a bit awkward for me.

The format didn't help, the illustrations seemed stretched.