Stuck in the Middle (of Middle School): A Novel in Doodles

Doreen Bussey aka Dodo aka Doodlebug returns in this companion to Young’s Doodlebug (2010), which shares the loose, meandering, and very funny notebook-style format of its predecessor. As in that book, Doodlebug offers a handwritten and inventively illustrated account of her family’s continuing efforts to resettle in San Francisco. Tensions between Doodlebug’s parents, her sister’s efforts to fit in at school, and an upcoming school dance loom large in this installment. Throughout, Young has a gift for capturing Doodlebug’s scattered but perceptive outlook—“Permanent,” she writes (in permanent marker), “is a word that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with my family so far”—both in her writing and her authentically childlike illustrations. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)