Being the middle child can be a tough spot to be in. Emma Just Medium: The Beach Dilemma by Laura Wiltse Prior is a young reader’s chapter book that follows Emma, the middle child of her siblings, on their family trip to the beach. This fun children’s book shows how being ‘medium’ isn’t such a bad thing.

Readers are thrust into this charming adolescent world with the collision of ‘Little’ and “Big’, Emma’s youngest and oldest brother. Both brother’s pick on Emma and know just what to do and say to get her worked up, as siblings do best. There is a constant back and forth of the unfairness of Emma being the middle child or ‘medium’, as she calls it, that I soon began to empathize with her and see her point of view. We see her life through her lens and work out with her the best way to cope with her situation, but also watch as she loses herself when trying to not being ‘medium’. I felt triumphant with her when she regained her true self and stayed true to who she is. This is all conveyed in an easy to follow and engaging story that is all due to the exceptional writing.

This is one of the best children’s chapter books I have read in a long time. Not only as an adult, but from what I can remember reading as a child as well. Each character is incredibly relatable and the real-life scenarios they find themselves in are relevant to kids today. I can see this book being part of a Scholastic book fair or one of those books children often checkout from the school library.

The illustrations perfectly fit the story. They allowed me to place scenes in my head and keep it continuing in a cinematic way as I read the story. This could be an entire book, T.V., or movie series that I would enjoy as an adult as well as share with my children. Emma Just Medium: The Beach Dilemma is a fun children’s book with charismatic characters that kids will enjoy following.

ISBN: 1947159607 | Pages: 72

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/01/06/emma-just-medium/