Finally, a book I loved. I was on a bad streak earlier this week, but The Middle of Somewhere is a book to end the losing streak. As Kent Clark says, “Don’t let life’s little surprises get you down. Expect the unexpected! Remember, there’s always a Plan B.” Who is Kent Clark? He’s the author of Seize the Way: Ten Weeks to SuperSize Your Life!. (Don’t bother to go looking at Amazon; I think it’s a made up book.) The quotations from Mr. Clark’s opus that introduce the first several chapters are priceless, as our protagonist and narrator, Veronica Sparks aka Ronnie, uses Mr. Clark’s positive thinking philosophy to guide her through the joys and difficulties of a summer road trip through Kansas.

I’m a bit ahead of myself, however. Twelve year old Ronnie has a younger brother, Gee, who’s six years old and seriously ADHD. Now, I must admit to being something of a skeptic when it comes to attention deficit and hyperactivity. I saw too many zombies overdosed on Ritalin when I was a school librarian in another life. However, even though I believe the condition is over-diagnosed and over-medicated, I do believe it’s real. Some kids just can’t pay attention and have a great deal of trouble learning to look before they leap. Gee, short for Gerald, is one of those real cases. I liked the way sister Ronnie accepts her brother the way he is, hyperactivity and all. She gets frustrated with him, defends him, rescues him and wants to get away from him for a break, sometimes all in the same day, sometimes all in the same hour.

When the two children get the chance to accompany their unsuspecting grandfather on a business trip through Kansas in his brand new RV, chaos ensues. Gee hardly ever slows down, and Ronnie has her hands full taking care of Gee and placating her crochety old grandfather so that he won’t turn around and take them back to Missouri. Then, in a plot development reminiscent of Betsy Byars’s Newbery Award book, The Summer of the Swans, Gee disappears, and Ronnie, Pop, the state police, and Ronnie’s new friend, Howard, a Kansas farm boy, all combine forces to find Gee and his hero Canonball Paul, who’s probably the magnet that drew Gee to run away in the first place. If that’s as clear as mud, rest assured that Ms. Cheaney is a much better writer than I am, and if you read the book, all shall be revealed. Plus you’ll develop an appreciation for ADHD kids and their families, and you might even look to see what else Ms. Cheaney has written. I did.

I liked the fact that the characters in this book are Real. Ronnie is a great big sister, but she gets tired and even calls Gee “a dummy” at one point in the story. Pop, the grandfather, is a not-so-great grandfather who’s neglected his progeny in the past, and who has no idea what he has committed to when he takes Gee on a road trip. I liked Pop in spite of his shortcomings; he reminded me of my own grandfather who was a salesman with an itchy foot, too. Ronnie’s and Gee’s mom is a wonderful mother who misses her children, but who can’t help being relieved about being left to recover from her broken leg in peace and quiet.

Then, too, Ms. Cheaney’s writing is great. Try these sentences on for size:

“But as good as Sunday ended, Monday opened up rainbows, sunbeams, and white-water rapids of potential goodness.”

“Now that he was up close and personal with this humongous thing, he seemed subdued —as if its sheer size had packed him into a ball of subduedness.”

The story also features a dog named Leo, a poker game with high stakes, a man who travels around Kansas shooting himself out of a cannon, and a genuine wind prospector selling “power from the sky.” What more could you ask?

The Middle of Somewhere is one of the books nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

J.B. Cheaney’s website, where you can read biographical information, get teacher helps, and read some of Ms. Cheaney’s reviews of children’s fiction by other authors.

Susan Olasky interviews J.B. Cheaney and N.D. Wilson for WORLD magazine.