The Middle Five

Francis La Flesche’s The Middle Five is a children’s, fiction first published in 1900. Francis La Flesche uses the form to consider curiosity, growth, imagination, friendship, and the testing of values, keeping the emphasis on how ideas become choices, conflicts, and consequences. Rather than depending on topical novelty, the book builds its interest through the interaction of character, situation, and idea. Form and tone matter throughout, with a clear, lively style designed to make wonder and danger immediately accessible. At roughly 42,948 words with a fairly easy reading profile, it offers a reading commitment that is easy to judge before beginning while still leaving room for close attention. Its continuing value lies in its place in the development of literature written for younger readers. Readers drawn to children’s, fiction and curiosity will find a work that combines a distinct period voice with questions that remain recognizable today. Because the work leaves space for judgment rather than reducing its ideas to a simple lesson, different readers may find different points of emphasis within it.