The Middle Child Blues

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.

He was the second of three brothers -- when you're always in the middle, sometimes it's hard to feel special. Until one day, his parents needed an important task to be done. And suddenly, middle-sized was the perfect size to be.

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.

Black Love is a collaboration of different artists. Each artist expresses their talents through either writing or drawing.

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.

Providing descriptive annotations of the best children's picture books published in the last decade, this comprehensive overview is perfect for librarians, teachers, parents, daycare providers, and anyone who works with young children.

For more than a dozen years, readers all over the country have checked in weekly with Marguerite Kelly's "The Family Almanac" syndicated column for help and advice in dealing with issues facing today's families. Now, fans of her column and her immensely popular book, The Mother's Almanac, will be thrilled with the arrival of this new title. Finally, families will have all the information they need in one volume: Sound ideas on everything from bringing home a new baby to choosing a preschool, coping with illness and divorce to nurturing self-confidence. Book jacket.