A clever, bluesy riff on middle-kid angst Lee has the low-down, big-frown, sulkin?-all-aroundtown blues. His older brother gets all the big-kid privileges, and no one expects his little sister to do anything but be cute. And sometimes his family even leaves him behind! But when Lee breaks out his guitar and finally makes his voice be heard, he draws a big crowd. It turns out lots and lots of people share his middle-kid pain'and he loves how being stuck in the middle is making him the center of attention.

What happens when the joys of becoming an elder sibling, along with already being a younger one, aren't exactly what you thought they would be? I'll let Shaun tell you himself: "I'm 12-year-old Shaun Signewszki, born in Kansas City." "My older brother is Amistad 'Chosen One' Signewszki, while my younger sister is Hazel 'Princess' Signewszki. You guessed it! I'm the misfit in the middle, the second of three children. The 'Blamed One'. Ironically, we now live in the not-so-well-known city of Duncaster. Its only claim to fame is that it's the city that is absolutely smack-dab in the center of the USA." "My life is a constant comedy of errors, basically a game of 'dodge-the-blame'. I have, more often than not, found myself grounded and punished for things I haven't done. This is a nostalgic (not really) look back at the times when I've been at the receiving end of the blame, mostly due to the antics of my siblings and friends. You'll definitely realize that being a middle child is one of the most difficult jobs in the world."

Birth order has a powerful effect on children's emotional development, on their self-esteem, and on their sense of well-being. The youngest child, the firstborn, the middleborn, twins, and the only child all have specific birth order issues that, if not atted to early on, can impair their functioning and their interpersonal relations at home and at school, and can follow them into adulthood. Parental birth order, too, plays an important role, as do such other factors as gender and family size. To understand these birth order blues, the author, an expert in parent-child relationships, first raises parents' awareness of the impact of birth order upon children. She then shows how to identify their children's birth order problems, often disguised by behaviors such as underachievement or aggression, and suggests how they can resolve these issues and prevent negative behavioral patterns from developing.

Young Hammie has it all until the day his parents bring home a baby sister. In an instant, Hammie goes from the revered position of "baby of the family" to, ugh, middle child. It's not a smooth transition to big brotherhood for Hammie, but it's definitely a humorous and heartwarming story.

A school newspaper reporter surveys kids on how they feel about being born first, last, or in the middle of their family's hierarchy.

During the last week of school, the students in Mrs. Hartwell's class try to come up with the perfect present for their teacher.

We Were Here First is the declaration from Wanda and Darryl MacPherson to their three small children, as they hide in the closet for one precious second of “alone” time. In the day-to-day world of sippy cups, diapers, tantrums, and spit-up, life can get pretty crazy!

It's tough to move right before school starts. First Day Blues, about a girl's move to a new state, guides children through the trauma of changing schools and facing strange teachers and classmates.

A gorgeous picture book biography of botanist and photographer Anna Atkins--the first person to ever publish a book of photography After losing her mother very early in life, Anna Atkins (1799–1871) was raised by her loving father. He gave her a scientific education, which was highly unusual for women and girls in the early 19th century. Fascinated with the plant life around her, Anna became a botanist. She recorded all her findings in detailed illustrations and engravings, until the invention of cyanotype photography in 1842. Anna used this new technology in order to catalogue plant specimens—a true marriage of science and art. In 1843, Anna published the book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions with handwritten text and cyanotype photographs. It is considered the first book of photographs ever published. Weaving together histories of women, science, and art, The Bluest of Blues will inspire young readers to embark on their own journeys of discovery and creativity.

"You have to bear in mind that [Questlove] is one of the smartest motherf*****s on the planet. His musical knowledge, for all practical purposes, is limitless." --Robert Christgau A punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone's Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture. Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences--from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth. Mo' Meta Blues also has some (many) random (or not) musings about the state of hip hop, the state of music criticism, the state of statements, as well as a plethora of run-ins with celebrities, idols, and fellow artists, from Stevie Wonder to KISS to D'Angelo to Jay-Z to Dave Chappelle to...you ever seen Prince roller-skate?!? But Mo' Meta Blues isn't just a memoir. It's a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a post-modern black man saddled with some post-modern blues. It's a book that questions what a book like Mo' Meta Bluesreally is. It's the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind. It's a rare gift that gives as well as takes. It's a record that keeps going around and around.