The trailer to a book or movie can be a great or horrible thing. If you give too much away then one might as well not see or read the project. The Midnight Children doesn’t have a trailer per se, but it’s a great example of not judging a book by its cover. If one were to do that then you might think that it’s about a teen who hangs out in the forest with lightning bugs while his reclusive friends hide behind the trees. What’s great about The Midnight Children is that even as readers get to the one-third mark of the book, they’re still discovering exactly who the characters are and what they’re trying to accomplish.
Well, that’s the goal of a book, you might state to yourself, and you are correct. Readers, especially when they get to the upper elementary and middle school levels want to be challenged with stories and characters that make them think while they’re reading. They want intelligent stories that don’t have cookie-cutter characters. They want realistic fiction that’s real, but also wonderful enough to make their imagination stretch past what they’re accustomed to.
The Midnight Children hits that nail on the head and hammers the book down. Ravani is a typical tween boy who struggles to make real friends. He lives in a small town called Slaughterville, a place that has a meat processing plant as one of its main businesses. Everything is going according to Ravani’s non-plan when he looks across the street one night, at midnight, to see some people moving into the house that hasn’t had occupants for many years.
Shortly after that Ravani meets Virginia, one of the kids who moved in. She’s a quirky girl who is his age and has many of the same personality traits. They’re similar, without being too much of the same, characteristics that would make them a good couple, or friendly siblings. Virginia has five other siblings and they all have a secret. Shortly after readers meet her family we’re introduced to The Hunter, a character whose ominous presence doesn’t happen often until the end of the book. That’s OK because he’s alluded to a couple of times and his emergence only amps up the tension and curiosity revolving around him.
Ravani and Virginia also have several run-ins with Donnie, the school bully. Every mglit book has a bully of sorts, but rarely has a heel character been so effectively flushed out as he is in The Midnight Children. Donnie is a complete jerk with no obviously redeeming characteristics. He’s a character that makes your blood boil as you read about how he acts and what he does. Picture Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid in his jerkiest mode, before he became sympathetic and fun to watch as a good guy. This is Kobra Kai from the first film, bad guy Johnny who you love to hate and want to punch. Donnie is that kid. He’s the bully who wins sometimes and always tries to make other kids’ lives miserable.
As you read The Midnight Children you’ll love and loathe with Donnie comes around. However, as with any truly great heel, the book wouldn’t have been as great if he weren’t been written in that way. Do the kids have mystical powers? Are they secret spies from the military? They’re aliens, aren’t they? The secrets behind The Midnight Children trickle out in just the right manner and time frame that the book straddles being a mystery, but also a coming-of-age story that parallels Stand By Me or The Goonies.
It’s a fun book to read that those upper elementary through middle school readers will love. The book treats them intelligently by dropping hints along the way, and offering up big reveals as the story progresses. Sure the story in The Midnight Children could happen, but it is fiction. Realistic fiction is one of those genres that kids need to read a variety of in order to round out or sharpen their reading comprehension. It’s also a book that they will want to read for all the right reasons.
The Midnight Children is by Dan Gemeinhart and available on Henry Holt & Company, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing.
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