this is a light hearted story about a boy that has "middle child blues". he feels left out of his own family. In the end the parents tell him that they are middle children too and he is happy and comforted.

Being a middle child, I get the blues it brings out in the main character here, and being a David Catrow fan, I loved the illustrations for their comedic power, but the story seemed trapped between being a blues song and a narrative and never really won me over in either case. I liked the book but I wasn't in love with it. It's still a fun book though. ( )

To this day I still can hear Jan's whining cry "Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!" bemoaning her woes of being not only Marcia’s younger sister, but also her seemingly invisible position as the middle child of the huge Brady Bunch. She’s not alone. The Brady Bunch housekeeper, Alice, is also a middle child, as are many others throughout the world. You would think that with so many middle children in this world, there would be many picture books based on this topic supporting those wee folks stuck in the middle. No, that is not the case, but then along comes Middle Child Blues by the rhythmic writer Kristyn Crow and illustrated by none other than David Catrow. Catrow’s wide-eyed, colorful, exuberant characters have graced the pages of many children’s books over the years as well as national summer reading program materials, so one may think that readers would tire of their ever expressive faces and quirky manners. Happily, the characters fit right into the beat of Crow’s story; a story which when read aloud is enjoyable to not only those with the “low-down, big-frown, sulkin’-all-around-town, bummed-out, mid-kid blues”, but also their siblings and parents as well. It’s hard to be sulkin’-all-around-town when you’re reading one of Crow’s beat filled books. ( )

Unless you want to commit fully to reading it as a blues song kinda of a dud. A little muddled, but does show the unfairness of being a middle-child. ( )