Book Review- Me in the Middle by Ana Maria Machado

Me in the Middle is written by Ana Maria Machado. Ana is a Brazilian writer of children’s books. She is a very renown writer for her children’s novels and winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is “the highest international recognition given to an author and illustrator of children’s books.” Me in the Middle is published by Groundwood Books in January 2003. This is one of three novels written by Ana and published by Groundwood Books. Set in Brazil, this children’s chapter book is based on a child, Isabel, and her grandmother Bisa Bea.

Isabel (Bel) comes home from school and her mother is doing some cleaning. Her mom found a decorated box. Bel constantly bugs her mom and keeps asking what is inside. Her mother takes out a picture of a young girl. This young girl is Bel’s great grandmother, Bisa Bea. This picture is very sentimental to Bel’s mother. Bel keeps asking her mother if she could have the picture. Her mother was reluctant to give away the picture because its one of the few things she has of her.

Once her mother gave her the picture, Bel was very excited and kept the picture of her great grandmother wherever she went. Bel begins to see her great grandmother as her best friend and do everything together. Together, they went to school, played with one another outside, and other things. One day Bel loses the picture. This is when her great grandmother becomes apart of her and is alive inside of Bel.

Keep in mind that Bel and her great grandmother are from different eras. Bisa Bea begins to tell Bel what it’s like to be a girl in her day in age. But then Bisa Bea constantly tells Bel how to behave and act like a girl in her age would. Girls in Bisa Bea’s days were expected to be proper girls. This isn’t how girls in Bel’s era act. They are more modern. Bisa Bea continues to tell Bel how to behave and is constantly talking in Bel’s mind. Another voice in Bel’s head is telling her to be herself and not like what her great grandmother wants. The other voice is Bel’s great granddaughter, Beta. Hence the title of the children’s novel, “Me in the Middle.” Bel is stuck in the middle of her great grandmother and her great granddaughter. She sees the lives of two complete opposite generations in her family.

This plot is very interesting. As readers, we don’t find out how the title comes into play until towards the end. Bel is in the middle of her great grandmother and her great granddaughter. Bel is struggling with balancing what her great grandmother is telling her versus what her great granddaughter is telling her. These two characters are very different which is why its hard for Bel to take in account the advice from both people. Bel is the channel that brings three generations above and three generations below together which sometimes can be hard for her. Its not that Bel didn’t want both sides of the generations within her, in fact they all became friends. “By the time I went back to school a few days later, I was starting to get used to my two friends, Bisa Bea and Nieta Beta. But just a little. There will always be a few scary things about this.” (Machado, 95). Bel actually liked having both of them inside of her, but it was just weird for her to think about having a great grandchild, while Beta gives her own great grandmother, Bel, advice. Together, they all share experiences which I think is why Bel didn’t mind having both her great grandmother and great granddaughter be apart of her.

I think this is a good story for children. There are many lessons that they can take away from reading this children’s chapter book. The biggest lesson to me is that people might tell you to do this and do that, but in the end, you should just be yourself. How other people live or lived shouldn’t dictate how you would live your life. This doesn’t mean you should just shutout what they have to say, just keep in mind that you are your own person and you should do what you want to do. I think it’s a good take away because children can express themselves for who they are. Like I said earlier, Bel is the connection between her great grandmother and her great granddaughter. This represents the past, the present, and the future. It can be good for children to express themselves when they struggle to play a role in the world that they live in. The book does a good job of creating this image for children to see what Bel is experiencing throughout the novel. And it can be a good take away for children.

Works Cited

Machado, Ana Maria. “Me in the Middle.” Groundwood Books. Jan, 2003.

“Hans Christian Andersen Awards.” IBBY Official Website, 12 Apr. 2019, www.ibby.org/awards    activities/awards/hans-christian-andersen-awards/.