In the hilarious and zany Midnight Mayhem by Christina Uss (The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle), 11-year-old Kazimir (Kaz) Jakobsen learns he may never sleep again--and that could be a good thing.
Kaz's family moved to Philadelphia only two days ago, but they've at least found a local restaurant, Beigel's Bagels, where they can have their traditional Sunday brunch. When the owner offers Kaz a spoonful of "something fluorescent green" called "Hairy Chest Mustard" and gives Kaz some homemade root beer to wash it down, Kaz's mouth feels spicy, but he's unconcerned. "Until it was time for bed." Kaz can't sleep. But it's not just for one night--Kaz stops sleeping altogether. In a book his mother brought home from the library, Kaz learns about a group of Eastern Europeans (called "the Sleepless Ones") who "had eaten an extremely potent local green mustard shortly before drinking homemade root beer." His parents dismiss the story as pseudoscience and take Kaz to a sleep study. There, Kaz befriends Floyd, a boy with a similar inability to sleep. The boys build a friendship around sneaking away at night to explore the hospital and Philadelphia, and Kaz begins to wonder if being a Sleepless One isn't so bad after all.
Midnight Mayhem acts as a delightful prism for sleeplessness, showing the night as a time that can be stressful and upsetting as well as a time that grants opportunity for expansive experience. 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. --Kyla Paterno, freelance reviewer