Midnight Mayhem - by Christina Uss (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Kaz Jakobsen can't sleep.
Ever again.

Kaz Jakobsen knows things will never be the same after his family's sudden move to Philadelphia. He'll have to make new friends, which isn't his strong suit. But an even bigger change arrives at a restaurant where he orders a bagel sandwich. Kaz eats a potent combo of the world's greenest mustard and rootiest rootbeer and loses his ability to sleep.

Scientifically, brain + no sleep = kablammo. The longest a human insomniac has gone without sleep is eleven days. What will happen to Kaz without sleep for more than seventy years? How will he survive the lonely boredom?

Kaz luckily meets Floyd, a fellow non-sleeping kid, at a sleep study lab. Floyd thinks being sleepless is a super-power, a chance to try a million new things. He takes Kaz on madcap midnight adventures, introducing him to all the things kids are allowed to do at night in Philadelphia. And a few things they aren't. The bad news: his ideas always seem to lead to mayhem.

Kaz wants to keep Floyd's friendship but lose the mayhem. When he learns there's an antidote to a lifetime awake, he has a tough choice to make. If Kaz cures his sleeplessness, will he lose the best friend he's ever had?

Review Quotes

Bouncing between the relatable (loneliness, moving, changing friendships) and the absurd (rooftop rescues, unaccompanied kids not attracting attention), Uss guides readers on a raucous romp that shows even nighttime boredom can be busted.
--Booklist

Uss (The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle) channels the vivacious absurdity of Daniel Pinkwater in this madcap tale about seeking friendship and fun. . . . The inventive, off-the-wall plot delivers steady amusement as down-to-earth Kaz contends with Floyd's "mayhem-inducing" ideas as well as nighttime extremes of dullness and havoc, making for an airy read that evokes laughs and smiles.
--Publishers Weekly

Uss crafts an endearing protagonist in Kaz, whose loneliness and desire for connection feel authentic. . . . Uss's playful sensibility invites readers to embrace the story's heightened reality. . . . A warm tale about friendship and belonging that will circulate well where quirky realistic fiction is popular.
--School Library Journal

Hilarious and zany. . . . Uss cleverly uses Kaz's third-person perspective to highlight both the joy and fear one might experience if they suddenly had eight extra evening hours. Exploration, risk, and friendship reign supreme in this excellent middle-grade novel.
--Shelf Awareness

An enjoyably off-the-wall tale of friendship and self-acceptance.
--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Christina Uss' first novel, The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, was selected for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, Maine Student Book Award list, Vermont's Dorothy Canfield Fisher list and was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. It received starred reviews from Shelf Awareness, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews and Publisher's Weekly. Christina lives in East Longmeadow MA. Christina works at a library as a circulation supervisor