I am here with a book review of the second book in The Moffats series by Eleanor Estes, The Middle Moffat! If you missed my review of Book 1, check it out here!

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Book: The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes

Genre: Classic Children’s Fiction

Blurb:

A 1943 Newbery Honor Book

Who is Jane Moffat, anyway? She isn’t the youngest in the family, and she isn’t the oldest-she is always just Jane. How boring. So Jane decides to become a figure of mystery . . . the mysterious “Middle Moffat.” But being in the middle is a lot harder than it looks.

In between not rescuing stray dogs, and losing and finding best friends, Jane must secretly look after the oldest inhabitant of Cranbury . . . so he can live to be one hundred. Between brushing her hair from her eyes and holding up her stockings, she has to help the girls’ basketball team win the championship. And it falls to Jane-the only person in town with enough courage-to stand up to the frightful mechanical wizard, Wallie Bangs.

Jane is so busy keeping Cranbury in order that she barely has time to be plain old Jane. Sometimes the middle is the most exciting place of all. . . . (cover and blurb from Goodreads)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Recommended Age: 8+ (or younger as a read-aloud)

My Review:

My Overall Thoughts: I loved this book! I think I enjoyed it even more than the first one in the series. Jane is such an endearing main character, and her adventures are so fun. Like The Moffats, this would make a great family read-aloud.

Plot: Similar to the first book in the series, The Middle Moffat is more like a collection of individual stories but with one plot line running throughout (in this case, Jane’s friendship with The Oldest Inhabitant in Cranbury). The stories are all so fun and sweet, such as Jane acting in a play of The Three Bears, a piano recital, making and losing and regaining a best friend, and seeing a solar eclipse. Each chapter contains a simple but entertaining adventure in Jane’s life.

Characters: Unlike the first book, this one does not mainly focus on the Moffat family as a whole but on Jane. She was a delightful main character, and it is fun to see her grow and learn as she tries to figure out where she fits in the family, makes new friendships, and learns lessons. She would be a relatable character to many young people, as she tries to figure out how to be polite to her new neighbors, learns how to deal with conflict in friendships, and more.

Writing Style: As always, I love Estes’ writing style. There is a large vocabulary used, but it is still simplistic enough for young readers to understand. The way Estes writes really captures the joy and wonder of childhood.

Themes: The main overarching themes in the story were learning to fit in and friendship, and many of the chapters included some other lesson that could be learned, such as the importance of hard work or thinking creatively.

Content Notes: There are some instances of children being mean to each other (not condoned and the kids apologize). There are some mentions of witches, ghosts, and mermaids. There is a chapter all about what Jane’s little brother wants to get from Santa Claus for Christmas, and Jane writes a letter to him pretending to be Santa.

Overall, I would recommend The Middle Moffat for anyone who enjoys middle grade fiction! Hopefully, I will be reviewing the last two books in this series together in a couple weeks. Before that, I will be posting a monthly wrap-up for April next Monday. Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave a comment below!