26 June 2018 THE WALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK by Jon Agee, Dial, October 2018, 48p., ISBN: 978-0-525-55545-2

“You got to look outside your eyes

You got to think outside your brain

You got to walk outside your life

To where the neighborhood changes”

-- Ani DiFranco (1993)

“Mr. Gorbachev. Tear down this wall”

-- Ronald Reagan, speaking at the Berlin Wall (1987)

“I’m talking about precast going up probably thirty-five to forty feet up in the the air. That’s high. That’s a real wall.”

-- Donald Trump (February 9, 2016)

In THE WALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK, a young knight, who has been taught to fear what is on the other side of the wall-in-the-middle-of-the-book, is in for a good surprise when bad things happen on his side of the wall.

“There’s a wall in the middle of the book.

And it’s a good thing.

The wall protects this side of the book…

from the other side of the book.

This side of the book is safe.

The other side is not.”

While the young knight climbs a ladder and speaks fearfully of the ogre on the other side of the wall, his supposedly-safe side of the wall steadily fills with water and a crocodile appears. Meanwhile, on the other side, we can see the ogre who might appear scary to some but, literally, won’t hurt a mouse.

As things get truly desperate on the knight’s side, the ogre reaches over the top of the wall, plucks the knight from the rising water, and brings him to safety.

“OH NO!

I’m on the other side of the book!

And you’re the ogre who’s going to eat me up!”

“Haw-haw-haw! I’m actually a nice ogre.

And this side of the book is fantastic!”

The knight realizes the truth about the other side of the book, and this leads to a joyful scene that recalls Max and the wild things having a wild rumpus.

THE WALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK promotes openness and letting down fears of “other.” It will counteract the prejudices that young children are deliberately or inadvertently taught by adults and by other young people.

There are plenty of adults who could benefit from a storytime presentation of this book!

Richie Partington, MLIS

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