Book Description
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....
Eleanor Estes's beloved Moffats stories are being published in new editions as Odyssey/Harcourt Young Classics. The original interior illustrations have been retained, but handsome new cover art by Tricia Tusa gives the books a fresh, timeless appeal for today's readers.
Card catalog description
Follows the adventures and misadventures of ten-year-old Jane Moffat living with her widowed mother and three siblings in their new home in Cranbury, Connecticut, in the early twentieth century.
About the Author
ELEANOR ESTES (1906-1988), a children's librarian for many years, launched her writing career with the publication of The Moffats in 1941. Two of her books about the Moffats are Newbery Honor Books, as is The Hundred Dresses. She won the Newbery Medal for Ginger Pye in 1952.
The Middle Moffat ANNOTATION
Follows the adventures and misadventures of ten-year-old Jane Moffat living with her widowed mother and three siblings in their new home in Cranbury, Connecticut, in the early twentieth century.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
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....
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature
Jane thinks "middle" things sound good, like the middle of the night or the Middle Ages, so she asks to be called the middle Moffat—or maybe even the mysterious middle Moffat. Jane's appealingly tenacious personality emerges as she attempts to read every book in the library, single-handedly win a basketball game the first time she plays, host an organ recital that is ruined by swarming moths, and do everything she can to help Mr. Buckle, the town's oldest inhabitant, reach his hundredth birthday. These stories and others reflect the simplicity of life in the 1940s, but readers will relate to problems that are timeless, like trying to stay awake to hear Santa Claus, or wanting to give your mother a store-bought handbag but having to settle for one you've made, or losing the head to your bear costume minutes before the curtain rises. Jane makes the middle child seem indispensable, not just to her family, but to everyone in town. The charm of these stories lies in their subtle humor and abundance of heart. Because each tale can stand alone, many selections would be excellent for reading aloud. It is part of the "Young Classics" series. 2001 (orig. 1942), Odyssey/Harcourt, $17.00 and $6.00. Ages 7 to 10. Reviewer: Betty Hicks
Art & Photography
Book Info
