Midnight on Strange Street by K.E. Ormsbee – A Review

The friendships in this book were wonderful and made me really connect to the characters. I loved that it had 4 main characters and their point of view was shown throughout the book. Their friendship was heartwarming and made Midnight on Strange Street so wonderful.

Although this book is targeted towards middle-grade readers, it’s a really fun read for an adult that loves sci-fi as well!

The Writing: Written from the POV of four main characters, I was concerned that this would become confusing and difficult to follow, but it didn’t! The writing was done so well and made the story flow seamlessly.

The Characters: The four main characters were so wonderful. They had complexity and depth making them relatable and enjoyable. I loved that they each had a special power related to their glowboards. This was a special twist that was fun to learn about.

The Plot: Avery, Dani, Lola, and Bastian are all glowboarders in their small Texas town. Glowboarding is a new style of skateboarding where the boards are powered by this mysterious substance, Glow. While the book is really focused on the glowboarding events, there is a bigger, global war, that is brewing. I believe that there could be a book 2 where this would be expanded on, but we will see!

Overall, this was a fun story with a great science-fiction aspect for middle-grade readers. At 400 pages, it’s an investment for a young child to read, however, I flew through the pages and found that the size of the book, was not a deterrent and didn’t feel like 400 pages.

To Read or Not To Read:

This is a good book for young readers that enjoy reading chapter books. If you enjoy getting to know characters and books about friendship and a sporting event, Midnight on Strange Street is perfect.

Where To Find This Book:

Midnight on Strange Street by K.E. Ormsbee is available at these sites.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ibooks | The Book Depository

AVERY MILLER is looking for a fresh start, away from all the bomb sirens and talk of war in Los Angeles. She expects to find a haven in Callaway, Texas, where the cool new substance “glow” was first discovered. What she doesn’t count on is making friends with glowboard skaters Dani, Bastian, and Lola, aka the Sardines. . . .

DANI HIRSCH, captain of the Sardines, knows for a fact they’re the best glowboarding team in Texas—if only they could prove it. Nothing will distract Dani from leading the team to victory at this summer’s big race. Not even food explosions in the school cafeteria, or a mysterious midnight message, or secretive government workers in Callaway. . . .

BASTIAN GIL is sick of the bullies who tease him for being a Sardine, for being different. Sure, he and his twin sister, Lola, can share thoughts. That’s just twin telepathy, though—nothing too weird, right? But when Bastian finds he can do even stranger things, he starts to wonder if maybe he really is different from the other kids at school. . . .

LOLA GIL wants life to go back to normal, to a time before big glowboard races and government investigations. But the more the Sardines discover about themselves—like how they can share thoughts and move objects with their minds—the more Lola begins to fear there was never anything normal about her. . . .

When the Sardines receive an ominous, otherworldly message, they must decide if they’ll use their newfound powers to stop an impending disaster—one that could have more to do with the war, their bullies, and glowboarding than they can possibly imagine.

Midnight on Strange Street by K.E. Ormsbee
Genre: Children’s / Mystery / Sci-Fi
Page Count: 400 pages
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pub Date: January 21, 2020

K.E. Ormsbee writes books, cooks food, & records podcasts in Austin, TX. She is the author of the WATER AND THE WILD fantasy trilogy (Chronicle Books and Gumption Press), folk mystery THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD (Chronicle Books), and the upcoming sci-fi adventure MIDNIGHT ON STRANGE STREET (Disney-Hyperion, January 2020).

She also writes Young Adult novels as Kathryn Ormsbee: LUCKY FEW, TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY, and THE GREAT UNKNOWABLE END (Simon & Schuster).

K.E. Ormsbee likes clothes from the 60s, music from the 70s, and movies from the 80s. She is from the 90s. You can visit her online at keormsbee.com or follow her on Twitter & Instagram @kathsby.