It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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and #IMWAYR day
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July 7, 2026 by Scholastic Press
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
**Spoiler alert!**
If you intend to read the book, you might not want to read the review. There are lots of twists and turns, but they occur early, so I couldn't really write a review that doesn't mention them. You've been warned!
Mickey is bored because he doesn't sleep. He and his hairless dog, Baldie, because of his bad allergies. They often go out at night, because his parents are working a lot after losing money in a bad real estate deal. With nothing better to do, he takes up running. Skye, on the other hand, uses her sleepless time for art projects, knitting, and reading. Levi, who has asthma, has several different social media accounts, and claims that some of them live in other countries, since he's posting in the middle of the night. Thea gets tired of sitting at the peanut free table but loves theater, and practices singing in a sound proofed treehouse, and Levi invents things. After Skye beats Mickey at the local science fair, the two meet when Baldie sneaks under Skye's fence. The two kids compare notes about their sleep, and eventually meet Levi when is out walking his dog, Bub. Mickey tries out for the football team once he's good at running, and after saving a game (and irritating Carlo, a teammate who bullies him), he stays out all night with the team and sees Thea outside in the week hours of the morning. Levi has posted a video of Thea singing, and she manages to flush him out by posting a Sodoku puzzle on social media. Once the five kids all know about each other, they convene, and try to figure out what they all have in common. It turns out that all five get allergy shots from the same man, Dr. Malachi. Since Skye has an appointment, all the kids go, and ask the doctor what has caused their sleeplessness. Malachi admits to giving them a special shot, but says that it is for the good of humanity, so that they can have an Uninterrupted Life and do great things. Everyone but Thea wants to stay on the shots, but Thea is adamantly opposed. When Dr. Malachi's office is empty, the group tries to hunt him down. They find an address, but there is a rather angry man there who yells at them about Spindle-Top. This turns out to be a luxury apartment building, but the doctor is gone. They go back to the former apartment and find out that the angry man is Dr. Malachi's son, James. When someone tries to break into the tree house, Mickey identifies the culprit as Beans, another member of the football team. He admits to getting the shots, and the kids sneak out to try to confront Dr. Malachi. He's gone again, but at least James, who has met the children there, is taken away and gets some psychological help. The kids have found the serum, but have to decide whether or not to have it analyzed so they can keep taking it, and eventually decide to destroy it, dumping it on the tree. Mickey and Skye are worried that they won't get to spend time together, since Skye's mother was the real estate agent whose actions caused Mickey's parents to lose their money, but Mickey's parents tell him that none of that is Skye's fault. The children still don't sleep for a while, but eventually the serum wears off. The tree at Thea's house, however, is permanently changed by the serum!
Strengths: First of all, this is a great premise, and more realistic than the somewhat similar Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld or The Eighth Day series by Salerni. Told from multiple perspectives, we see how the different children use their extra time. I would totally be like Skye, who even starts to learn Greek and Latin! The children all have different challenges to work around so they can do things undetected, but this is done in a way that makes perfect sense. Mickey's parents work at night. Thea has a soundproofed tree house. Levi has to evade his older sister, and uses Bub as an excuse for being out. I love that attention to detail. I picked up pretty quickly that they all had allergies, maybe because I took allergy shots for six years; I'm just sad mine never gave me extra hours in the day. The hunt for Dr. Malachi took the book in a different direction, and added an element of suspense. This is a fun book with absolutely solid writing. Korman should give master classes on writing middle grade fiction.
Weaknesses: I'm not personally a fan of multiple points of view, so would rather have had this from a third person omniscient perspective, but it wasn't confusing the way it was written. Just a preference.
What I really think: Korman just keeps getting better and better. Faker, Snoop, and Sleepless are probably my three favorite books that he has written, even though Restart will probably be considered his finest work. My condolences to him on the death of his friend, Barry Pekilis, to whom the book is dedicated.
Weaknesses: I'm not personally a fan of multiple points of view, so would rather have had this from a third person omniscient perspective, but it wasn't confusing the way it was written. Just a preference.
What I really think: Korman just keeps getting better and better. Faker, Snoop, and Sleepless are probably my three favorite books that he has written, even though Restart will probably be considered his finest work. My condolences to him on the death of his friend, Barry Pekilis, to whom the book is dedicated.
February 3, 2026 by Cicada Books
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Tweens LOVE to sleep these days, but do they know the benefits that sleep has for their growing bodies? Why Do We Sleep? takes a surprisingly deep dive into the science and psychology of sleep for middle grade audiences in this large format, picture book style nonfiction title.
There is a helpful table of contents for navigating the book, although there is not index or source notes. The explanation of circadian rhythms might be new information for young readers, as will the different sleep stages. Several pages are devoted to why the brain dreams, and includes possible explanations for some common dream topics. There are descriptions of different sleep styles around the world; I'm glad I don't work in Japan, because falling asleep at my desh would not be a pleasant experience!
There is helpful information about different types of insomnia, and the reasons some people might suffer from it, as well as two pages of different sleep disorders like narcolepsy and restless leg syndrome. Sleepwalking and night terrors are also discussed. Some attention is given to the sleep habits of animals, as well as to their dreams. New parents might take some comfort in knowing that orca mothers and babies don't sleep at all for the first month, since the baby needs to keep swimming in order to stay warm and afloat!
Many children would benefit from the tips on how to sleep better, which include staying away from screens, establishing a routine, and living a healthy lifestyle. A helpful flow chart walks readers through some actions they might take. It was interesting to see that I my chronotype is a "lion" because I go to bed early and also wake up early. Most of my students seem to be wolves, since they like to sleep in.
From the endpapers decorated with starry night skies to the scary black and blue backgrounds on the night terrors pages, the illustrations are largely dark, which are quite befitting to a book about sleep! The text on these pages is white, which makes it easier to read. There are some pages in brighter colors, and all have a jam-packed, collage type feel to them. My favorite is the illustration of a mother bear and her two cubs curled up for hibernation under a snowy landscape that shows smaller animals in neighboring burrows. There are also a number of sheep hidden throughout the pages for the readers to count... although, hopefully, this will not put them to sleep!
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