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Midnight Mayhem
Kaz Jakobsen can’t sleep.
Ever again.
Kaz Jakobsen knows things will never be the same after his family’s sudden move to Philadelphia. He’ll have to make new friends, which isn’t his strong suit. But an even bigger change arrives at a restaurant where he orders a bagel sandwich. Kaz eats a potent combo of the world’s greenest mustard and rootiest rootbeer and loses his ability to sleep.
Scientifically, brain + no sleep = kablammo. The longest a human insomniac has gone without sleep is eleven days. What will happen to Kaz without sleep for more than seventy years? How will he survive the lonely boredom?
Kaz luckily meets Floyd, a fellow non-sleeping kid, at a sleep study lab. Floyd thinks being sleepless is a super-power, a chance to try a million new things. He takes Kaz on madcap midnight adventures, introducing him to all the things kids are allowed to do at night in Philadelphia. And a few things they aren’t. The bad news: his ideas always seem to lead to mayhem.
Kaz wants to keep Floyd’s friendship but lose the mayhem. When he learns there’s an antidote to a lifetime awake, he has a tough choice to make. If Kaz cures his sleeplessness, will he lose the best friend he’s ever had?
Ever again.
Kaz Jakobsen knows things will never be the same after his family’s sudden move to Philadelphia. He’ll have to make new friends, which isn’t his strong suit. But an even bigger change arrives at a restaurant where he orders a bagel sandwich. Kaz eats a potent combo of the world’s greenest mustard and rootiest rootbeer and loses his ability to sleep.
Scientifically, brain + no sleep = kablammo. The longest a human insomniac has gone without sleep is eleven days. What will happen to Kaz without sleep for more than seventy years? How will he survive the lonely boredom?
Kaz luckily meets Floyd, a fellow non-sleeping kid, at a sleep study lab. Floyd thinks being sleepless is a super-power, a chance to try a million new things. He takes Kaz on madcap midnight adventures, introducing him to all the things kids are allowed to do at night in Philadelphia. And a few things they aren’t. The bad news: his ideas always seem to lead to mayhem.
Kaz wants to keep Floyd’s friendship but lose the mayhem. When he learns there’s an antidote to a lifetime awake, he has a tough choice to make. If Kaz cures his sleeplessness, will he lose the best friend he’s ever had?
176 pages, Hardcover
Published March 3, 2026
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Christina Uss
8 books55 followersChristina Uss has ridden her bicycle across the United States both lengthwise and widthwise, and has worked as an adventure tour guide in fifteen states, leading cyclists of all ages through various mountains’ majesty and all kinds of fruited plains.
Even more than pedaling across state lines, Christina loves books, especially ones that remind us all that the world is wonderful, weird place. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her family and will always wave hello if she sees you out riding.
Even more than pedaling across state lines, Christina loves books, especially ones that remind us all that the world is wonderful, weird place. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her family and will always wave hello if she sees you out riding.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 3, 2025
✰ 3 stars ✰
A quirky but cute and lighthearted middle grade read that tackles the lighter side of peer pressure and the lonely desire of friendship, one that even depicts how insomnia has a way of bridging a close bond between two eleven-year-olds who suffered from a strange case of insomnia as their adventures of Midnight Mayhem eventually brought them closer together, in ways unexpected to all. 🌆
“Do boring people not know they’re boring? Is that why it’s so hard for me to make friends?”
For when Kaz, short for Kazimir, moves to Philadelphia from Massachusetts, for his father's new job protecting the cyber world, his one and only concern was wanting to make a friend; to have someone to hang out with. 🤝 So when a mysterious phenomenon occurs that lands him in a sleeping facility to observe why he suddenly can't sleep, he'll do just about anything to keep fellow inmate Floyd as a friend, even at the risk of his own safety - and sanity.
And that's a relatable feeling for everyone - at any age. his concern, his fear, his doubts of insecurity, his fear of losing Floyd's friendship out-fazed his concern for how he may never sleep again! 😭 😴 And that felt real; and it didn't hurt that Floyd was as lonely as him, for how he somehow knew his outlandish schemes were dangerous and troublesome. so how to protect something that could be harmful; how to preserve a friendship when you're too hesitant to take a risk every now and then. 🥺
“It was okay to just keep trying. Especially when a friend would keep trying things with you.”
During their nightly excursions, I liked how the author brought Philadelphia alive. 🌃 It was a fun and happening city that burst forth with a splash of colors and tastes, giving Floyd and Kaz plenty of inspiration for how to spend all the excess time now at their disposal. It was also very relatable to see - not the stress - but the fear that if Kaze did not tag along or agree to Floyd's whimsical theatrics. 😥 He could lose the one friend he'd just been lucky to make, for he knew how crummy it felt to chase after friends to get them to spend time with you. Especially when you don't want to be seen as not as reckless or as fun or creative as Floyd's wild imagination unleashed his boredom on. 🤫🚫
I don't know if having characters called Dr. Trout and Dr. Macaroni were really necessary, but perhaps it added to the quirky charm of the setting. 🤷🏻♀️ I also don't know if it's very good parenting skills to dare your child to eat strange mysterious food for the risk of earning a couple of bucks - especially in this day and age - but, I'll let it slide in the spirit of the fantastical aspect of the story. 🤨 Maybe because Mr. Beigel was a colorful character who encouraged and supported Kaz; and partly because he was heavily responsible for the current fix Kaz found himself in.
I expected Kaz's insomnia to be treated in a different light; but as observed, a sleepless life would be a lonely life for him. ❤️🩹❤️🩹 It was with a cheery heart that their adventures wrapped, one that showed how others too could benefit with this strange gift bestowed upon them, ones who needed someone to keep company with in the lonely quiet of the nighttime solitude.🎙️
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
“Just because we’re awake doesn’t mean we have to be alone, right?”
A quirky but cute and lighthearted middle grade read that tackles the lighter side of peer pressure and the lonely desire of friendship, one that even depicts how insomnia has a way of bridging a close bond between two eleven-year-olds who suffered from a strange case of insomnia as their adventures of Midnight Mayhem eventually brought them closer together, in ways unexpected to all. 🌆
“Do boring people not know they’re boring? Is that why it’s so hard for me to make friends?”
For when Kaz, short for Kazimir, moves to Philadelphia from Massachusetts, for his father's new job protecting the cyber world, his one and only concern was wanting to make a friend; to have someone to hang out with. 🤝 So when a mysterious phenomenon occurs that lands him in a sleeping facility to observe why he suddenly can't sleep, he'll do just about anything to keep fellow inmate Floyd as a friend, even at the risk of his own safety - and sanity.
And that's a relatable feeling for everyone - at any age. his concern, his fear, his doubts of insecurity, his fear of losing Floyd's friendship out-fazed his concern for how he may never sleep again! 😭 😴 And that felt real; and it didn't hurt that Floyd was as lonely as him, for how he somehow knew his outlandish schemes were dangerous and troublesome. so how to protect something that could be harmful; how to preserve a friendship when you're too hesitant to take a risk every now and then. 🥺
“It was okay to just keep trying. Especially when a friend would keep trying things with you.”
During their nightly excursions, I liked how the author brought Philadelphia alive. 🌃 It was a fun and happening city that burst forth with a splash of colors and tastes, giving Floyd and Kaz plenty of inspiration for how to spend all the excess time now at their disposal. It was also very relatable to see - not the stress - but the fear that if Kaze did not tag along or agree to Floyd's whimsical theatrics. 😥 He could lose the one friend he'd just been lucky to make, for he knew how crummy it felt to chase after friends to get them to spend time with you. Especially when you don't want to be seen as not as reckless or as fun or creative as Floyd's wild imagination unleashed his boredom on. 🤫🚫
I don't know if having characters called Dr. Trout and Dr. Macaroni were really necessary, but perhaps it added to the quirky charm of the setting. 🤷🏻♀️ I also don't know if it's very good parenting skills to dare your child to eat strange mysterious food for the risk of earning a couple of bucks - especially in this day and age - but, I'll let it slide in the spirit of the fantastical aspect of the story. 🤨 Maybe because Mr. Beigel was a colorful character who encouraged and supported Kaz; and partly because he was heavily responsible for the current fix Kaz found himself in.
I expected Kaz's insomnia to be treated in a different light; but as observed, a sleepless life would be a lonely life for him. ❤️🩹❤️🩹 It was with a cheery heart that their adventures wrapped, one that showed how others too could benefit with this strange gift bestowed upon them, ones who needed someone to keep company with in the lonely quiet of the nighttime solitude.🎙️
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
November 8, 2025
Uss, Christina. Midnight Mayhem
March 3, 2026 by Holiday House
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
Kaz has moved to Philadelphia with his parents and younger brother Max, and misses his friends. He does enjoy the family's new habit of getting weekend brunch at Beigel's Bagels, but is otherwise worried about making friends in his new town. When the owner of the shop challenges him to eat fluorescent green hot mustard, Kaz's father eggs him on. The mustard is hot, and Kaz washes it down with a root beer float, trying to cool himself down. That night, he finds that he can't sleep at all. The same thing happens the next night. He tells his parents, and his mother makes an appointment with Dr. Macaroni, who refers him to a sleep study specialist, Dr. Trout. Kaz's school is shut down for two weeks because of a breakout of hand, foot, and mouth disease, and since he has been bored at home, especially at night, he is devastated. He can't sleep during the study, and when he gets up, he finds another boy his age, Floyd, who is taking animals from a hospital lab, claiming he can talk to them. Floyd has a genetic condition that causes him to need fewer than two hours of sleep a night. His parents have turned him over to the sleep lab for a break, since Floyd is NOT bored; he uses his nighttime hours to have adventures and get into trouble! Kaz is glad to go along, and the two frequent all night food trucks, ride in bicycle taxis, and visit places that are open for Phil Up the Night (which sadly does not seem to be a real thing). After Floyd has a disastrous crash at the science museum, he is grounded, and Kaz, who is still not back at school, is devastated. He's been working with Mr. Beigel to find an antidote for his sleeplessness, which has roots in Poland, where others are mustard and drank root beer and were cursed to not sleep. He tries many things, and also works with the doctors at the sleep lab, who are trying to record Floyd's brain waves during the two hours that he does sleep, because he sleeps so soundly. Eventually, the boys try to win a contest to host an all night radio talk show so that they have something to do all night.
Uss, who also wrote The Colossus of Roads and The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, has constructed a goofy friend adventure along the lines of The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death (1982) by Daniel Pinkwater, to whom the book is dedicated. There is a screaming Fennec fox and a couple a screech owls, bizarre fried food from street vendors, and plenty of running about town. Tweens will love the experiments for antidotes that involve mixing condiments with beverages; mayonnaise and orange juice does NOT sound very tasty, but is an amusing combination!
There are many things that are a bit unbelievable, from the mustard and root beer causing sleeplessness to the way the sleep lab is run. Even if a museum is open all night, I think two unaccompanied children would look very suspicious! Floyd gives just enough explanation to make these quirky things seem possible, which will delight tween readers.
Readers who like quirky realistic fantasies will enjoy Kaz's attempts to find a cure for his sleeplessness, and for his boredome. Midnight Mayhem has some similarities to Cherrywell's The Ink Witch or Brosgol's Return to Sender and might even encourage readers to rediscover Pinkwater's titles like the newer Crazy in Poughkeepsie.
Sadly, I can't get my students to check out The Colossus of Roads , which I enjoyed, so I will pass on purchasing this title, which is even quirkier. Quirky is not something I have much patience with. My students have not asked for this kind of humor, or I would try harder to like it. After all, I read all the Erin Hunter Warriors books and every horror football title I can find because I get constant requests for this kind of book. Quirky, not so much.
March 3, 2026 by Holiday House
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
Kaz has moved to Philadelphia with his parents and younger brother Max, and misses his friends. He does enjoy the family's new habit of getting weekend brunch at Beigel's Bagels, but is otherwise worried about making friends in his new town. When the owner of the shop challenges him to eat fluorescent green hot mustard, Kaz's father eggs him on. The mustard is hot, and Kaz washes it down with a root beer float, trying to cool himself down. That night, he finds that he can't sleep at all. The same thing happens the next night. He tells his parents, and his mother makes an appointment with Dr. Macaroni, who refers him to a sleep study specialist, Dr. Trout. Kaz's school is shut down for two weeks because of a breakout of hand, foot, and mouth disease, and since he has been bored at home, especially at night, he is devastated. He can't sleep during the study, and when he gets up, he finds another boy his age, Floyd, who is taking animals from a hospital lab, claiming he can talk to them. Floyd has a genetic condition that causes him to need fewer than two hours of sleep a night. His parents have turned him over to the sleep lab for a break, since Floyd is NOT bored; he uses his nighttime hours to have adventures and get into trouble! Kaz is glad to go along, and the two frequent all night food trucks, ride in bicycle taxis, and visit places that are open for Phil Up the Night (which sadly does not seem to be a real thing). After Floyd has a disastrous crash at the science museum, he is grounded, and Kaz, who is still not back at school, is devastated. He's been working with Mr. Beigel to find an antidote for his sleeplessness, which has roots in Poland, where others are mustard and drank root beer and were cursed to not sleep. He tries many things, and also works with the doctors at the sleep lab, who are trying to record Floyd's brain waves during the two hours that he does sleep, because he sleeps so soundly. Eventually, the boys try to win a contest to host an all night radio talk show so that they have something to do all night.
Uss, who also wrote The Colossus of Roads and The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, has constructed a goofy friend adventure along the lines of The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death (1982) by Daniel Pinkwater, to whom the book is dedicated. There is a screaming Fennec fox and a couple a screech owls, bizarre fried food from street vendors, and plenty of running about town. Tweens will love the experiments for antidotes that involve mixing condiments with beverages; mayonnaise and orange juice does NOT sound very tasty, but is an amusing combination!
There are many things that are a bit unbelievable, from the mustard and root beer causing sleeplessness to the way the sleep lab is run. Even if a museum is open all night, I think two unaccompanied children would look very suspicious! Floyd gives just enough explanation to make these quirky things seem possible, which will delight tween readers.
Readers who like quirky realistic fantasies will enjoy Kaz's attempts to find a cure for his sleeplessness, and for his boredome. Midnight Mayhem has some similarities to Cherrywell's The Ink Witch or Brosgol's Return to Sender and might even encourage readers to rediscover Pinkwater's titles like the newer Crazy in Poughkeepsie.
Sadly, I can't get my students to check out The Colossus of Roads , which I enjoyed, so I will pass on purchasing this title, which is even quirkier. Quirky is not something I have much patience with. My students have not asked for this kind of humor, or I would try harder to like it. After all, I read all the Erin Hunter Warriors books and every horror football title I can find because I get constant requests for this kind of book. Quirky, not so much.
September 10, 2025
Christina Uss, author of the wonderful The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle and its follow up book, brings readers another impossible scenario that is presented in a way that almost seems plausible. In Midnight Mayhem, Kaz and his family relocate to Philadelphia and he must face the already difficult task of trying to make friends and fit in. A trip to a local bagel eatery with an owner who loves to experiment with new flavors offers Kaz a taste of a most unusual green mustard which is rapidly followed by a root beer float to chase away the horror of that condiment. Surprise! Now Kaz is unable to go to sleep no matter what he tries or his parents have him try resulting in a sleep study where he meets another sleepless one named Floyd. It’s always nice to meet someone who is like you, but the sleeplessness, or near sleeplessness in Floyd’s case, is about the only thing the same between Kaz and Floyd. Kaz is careful in everything he does, not wanting to stand out or cause any problems to or for anyone, but Floyd? He is out to find the cure for boredom and his antics during the day or in his mostly wide-awake nights always seem to go awry, problems abound, parents complain and their children are warned off anything that includes Floyd.
The premise of the book is quickly established and Kaz’s positive relationship with his parents and little brother are demonstrated in just a few scenes leaving the bulk of the book to relay all the adventures Kaz and instigator Floyd have in the big city outside the hospital sleep study wing while most people are sound asleep. These adventures involve wild animals freed from their captivity, museum installations destroyed, fire department rescue from a rooftop and much experimentation with food, both the yummy kind and the gross combinations that the bagel man thinks might reverse the effects of green mustard and root beer. Plenty of laughter, eye rolls and head-shaking will keep readers turning the pages until the final resolution that is completely satisfying and may have readers turning the proverbial pages on their Internet enabled devices to see if the sleeplessness experienced by Kaz and Floyd is real and if there really is a Phil Up the Night event held in Philadelphia.
Great choice for libraries serving grades 4-7 who have readership not only in Uss’ others works but other improbable adventures like those found in Grabenstein’s Lemoncello’s Library series and many of the Grabenstein/Patterson titles. Representation: Kaz presents as Caucasian and Floyd may be Black. Text is free of profanity, sexual content and violence, however there is much destruction of property initiated mostly by Floyd but Kaz has a hand in some as well.
Thanks for the eARC, Edelweiss and Holiday House.
The premise of the book is quickly established and Kaz’s positive relationship with his parents and little brother are demonstrated in just a few scenes leaving the bulk of the book to relay all the adventures Kaz and instigator Floyd have in the big city outside the hospital sleep study wing while most people are sound asleep. These adventures involve wild animals freed from their captivity, museum installations destroyed, fire department rescue from a rooftop and much experimentation with food, both the yummy kind and the gross combinations that the bagel man thinks might reverse the effects of green mustard and root beer. Plenty of laughter, eye rolls and head-shaking will keep readers turning the pages until the final resolution that is completely satisfying and may have readers turning the proverbial pages on their Internet enabled devices to see if the sleeplessness experienced by Kaz and Floyd is real and if there really is a Phil Up the Night event held in Philadelphia.
Great choice for libraries serving grades 4-7 who have readership not only in Uss’ others works but other improbable adventures like those found in Grabenstein’s Lemoncello’s Library series and many of the Grabenstein/Patterson titles. Representation: Kaz presents as Caucasian and Floyd may be Black. Text is free of profanity, sexual content and violence, however there is much destruction of property initiated mostly by Floyd but Kaz has a hand in some as well.
Thanks for the eARC, Edelweiss and Holiday House.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Midnight Mayhem was so fun to read! Christina Uss has a clever and creative way of telling stories. I was inspired by this book and I can't wait for it to get in the hands of kids! It has me thinking... how do I want to fill the hours of my life and make the most of it!? This would be a fun story to read with kids and a great springboard for discussions!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
INCREDIBLE! Christina Uss has written another banger. I absolutely loved it. For the kid who has trouble sleeping, for the kid who has trouble making friends, for the kids who have to move to a new city, a new state, a new school. It's unashamedly for them. And it's wonderfully done.
November 20, 2025
Tons of fun and an explosion of laughs. This book is great for anyone trying to cure their boredom
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews