Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gore, gross-out, bullying overwhelm friendship tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
No one ever visits Slaughterville, except the unfortunate cows and calves who arrive in trucks and leave in meat packages. So when THE MIDNIGHT CHILDREN -- seven of them -- appear in the house across the street in the dead of night, 12-year-old bullied, friendless kid Ravani, whose dad works at the slaughterhouse, takes note. His kind act is the start of a friendship with the Deering kids, who may or may not be magic but definitely have a lot of secrets. One of which is that a very skilled, very determined, very well armed Hunter is stalking them.
Is It Any Good?
There's a sweet tale of friendship, courage, and transformation in this middle grade novel, but you have to slog through a lot of horrors to get there. The Midnight Children features some heartfelt moments of connection and bonding amid the gore, bullying, and philosophizing by the narrator, but you may wish to find such moments in books with less trauma.
"Colt had excitedly joined them when he'd heard what their destination was. His excitement dimmed, though, when he saw the cows waiting miserably in the lot outside.
'''Oh,' he said uneasily. 'I ... guess I thought the cows showed up already dead.'
"'No,' Ravani sighed. 'They're alive. But not for long.'
"Hiss-moooTHUD, the building coughed. Hiss-moooTHUD...
"'What's that sound?' Colt asked.
"Mr. Skinister's eyes dimmed. 'It ... was a cow. At least the "moo" part was.'"
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories about orphans on the run, and the families they make for themselves, as in The Midnight Children. What other examples of this theme do you know? Why do you think it's so popular for so many years?
If you suddenly had to be in a completely different place and act like you belonged there, how would you go about it?
Do you think it would be creepy to use a coffin for a boat, as characters do here, or do you think it's kind of cool, in a creepy way?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Friendship
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Henry Holt & Company, Inc.
- Publication date : August 30, 2022
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 352
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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