Myra in the Middle (Seetha Dodd, illus Peter Cheong, UQP)

Uplifting and true to life, Seetha Dodd’s Myra in the Middle is a junior novel that weaves together themes of family, identity and navigating change. Myra, a 7-year-old maths enthusiast with an older sister, Anya, is soon to welcome a new baby into her family. But although Myra is excited, she worries about becoming the middle child. Will she become invisible, ignored, or superfluous? At school, Myra also feels overlooked: by a teacher who mixes Myra up with another girl with “brown skin like me”, then in soccer, when Myra is made a midfielder, yet another in-between position. But after Myra confides her conflicted feelings to her Muthashi (grandma), she is soon reassured that the middle is the bridge between 2 things, crucially holding them together. Curious, considerate and patient, Myra is a joy to read about. The graphs and equations she creates to make sense of her life are endearing and will appeal to young readers. The emotional tone of Dodd’s writing is perfectly balanced: Myra’s anxieties are serious, yet there is a warmth to her family and world which suffuses the story with lightness. This gorgeous book will be an asset to school libraries, classrooms, and homes. Ideal for ages 6 to 9, Myra in the Middle will sit beside books like Sherryl Clark and Briony Stewart’s Mina and the Whole Wide World and Cassy Polimeni and Hykie Breeze’s Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer who has worked as a bookseller and museum educator. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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