Middle-Grade Review: The Midnight Children

For Middle-Grade March, I listened to four middle-grade audio books (check out my first two reviews here and the third review here), and enjoyed them all.

I'm a big fan of Dan Gemeinhart and especially loved his middle-grade novels, The Honest Truth and The Remarkable Story of Coyote Sunrise. In The Midnight Children, Gemeinhart again creates an engaging story with great characters in unusual circumstances. Ravani Foster lives in Slaughterville with his mom and dad and is lonely. He spends his summer days delivering town newspapers, taking his dad's lunch to the slaughterhouse at noon, and trying to dodge the nasty bullies who cruelly pick on him. One night, unable to sleep, Ravani looks out his bedroom window at midnight and sees a group of seven children of varying ages get out of a truck and carry their suitcases into the abandoned house across the street. With the help of his excellent frog-catching skills, he gets to know these new kids in the neighborhood and becomes good friends with a girl his age named Virginia. But the kids have some deep and dangerous secrets. Will they trust Ravani enough to take him into their confidence?

This is a unique story that includes some light elements of magic, though it is set in the real world and focuses on real-world problems. The setting is also unique, in this town that is defined by its only industry, a slaughterhouse. The novel does not shy away from the realities of that industry! Ravani and Virginia (and the other kids) are wonderful characters that I was rooting for. It's a story about friendship and found family, with a happy ending for all of the characters, including many of the people in town. I very much enjoyed this original story that reminded me of Kate DiCamillo's novels (as well as Gemeinhart's other books).

352 pages, Henry Holt & Co.

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

Alphabet Soup Challenge - M

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the excellent audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. In this sample, Ravani watches the children appear in the middle of the night.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!       
  

Disclosure: I received these books from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.