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Millie Magnus for Mayor (Millie Magnus #2)
September 2, 2025 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Millie is back after her introduction in the beginning chapter book Millie Magnus Won't Be Bullied, and immediately sees a HUGE problem. She overhears her mother, the mayor, talking about plans for tearing down the local playground. This is horrible! She gathers her friends in The Moody Bubblegums, Atticus and Poppy Anne, and try to come up with a plan to save their favorite place. They also loop in Greta, a cool fourth grader, and her group, The Real Chill Pickles. Millie thinks that there needs to be a leader, so gets herself voted the "mayor" of the project. This doesn't go over all too well with Greta, who thinks that she should be the leader since she is older, and the groups' momentum stalls. Millie confides in Josephine Draper, her mother's assistant and also Millie's caregiver, and Josephine tells Milie to talk to her mother about the project. She doesn't, but does apologize to Greta. The groups make buttons and posters to take to the community press conference, even though they are not supposed to crash a press conference. In the end, it turns out that Millie's mother is working to make the playground bigger and better. The next book, entitled Millie Magnus is Jealous, is likely to revolve around the new relationship between Millie's widowed mother and Mr. Longfellow, an architect.
September 2, 2025 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Millie is back after her introduction in the beginning chapter book Millie Magnus Won't Be Bullied, and immediately sees a HUGE problem. She overhears her mother, the mayor, talking about plans for tearing down the local playground. This is horrible! She gathers her friends in The Moody Bubblegums, Atticus and Poppy Anne, and try to come up with a plan to save their favorite place. They also loop in Greta, a cool fourth grader, and her group, The Real Chill Pickles. Millie thinks that there needs to be a leader, so gets herself voted the "mayor" of the project. This doesn't go over all too well with Greta, who thinks that she should be the leader since she is older, and the groups' momentum stalls. Millie confides in Josephine Draper, her mother's assistant and also Millie's caregiver, and Josephine tells Milie to talk to her mother about the project. She doesn't, but does apologize to Greta. The groups make buttons and posters to take to the community press conference, even though they are not supposed to crash a press conference. In the end, it turns out that Millie's mother is working to make the playground bigger and better. The next book, entitled Millie Magnus is Jealous, is likely to revolve around the new relationship between Millie's widowed mother and Mr. Longfellow, an architect.
Accompanied by fun illustrations (Extra Spicy chicken glory needs to be seen!), Millie's story reflects the exuberance and misguided intentions so often seen in early elementary school students. While she's not quite as off the mark as Amelia Bedelia, it's apparent early on that the beloved playground is not in the danger Millie suspects. Millie would benefit from some guidance in peer relationships, and is lucky to have Josephine to keep her sassy ways in check. The tensions between Millie and Greta reminded me of Stella Diaz's struggles with her Sea Musketeers in Dominguez's Stella Díaz Dreams Big. Leading a group is not always an inherent skill, so seeing this modeled in literature is great.
Young readers who enjoyed Millie's exuberance, as well as her pet chicken, Extra Spicy, will be glad to follow Millie's attempts as she deals with situations in her life, rather like a Junie B. Jones (Parks, 1992) for the new millienium. Millie's would find co conspiritors in Allen's The Magnificent Mya Tibbs, Draper's Sassy, Sheth's Nina Soni, or Watson's Ryan Hart in Ways to Make Sunshine.
Cline, Ernest. Bridge to Bat City
April 9, 2024 by Little, Brown Books for Young ReadersOhio Digital Library Copy
Opal Flats moves from Lubbock to Austin, Texas after her mother, a talented seamstress, passes away from a stroke. Opal, who is 13, is on the heavy side, obsessed with Buddy Holly, and very sensitive to music. Her father died in the Vietnam war, so her Uncle Roscoe, her father's brother, takes her in. Roscoe still runs the family farm, which was started in 1865, even though he doesn't like farming, because he wants to protect his family's legacy. Not far from the farm is a cave that is home to a colony of bats. Muckerno Limestone has been trying to buy the farm in order to mine the area, but Roscoe doesn't like the environmental impact the company has. Opal starts to notice that the bats seem to like it when she plays music, and even chitter in response to it, and she names the bats after streets in Austin, because they seem to especially enjoy the television program Austin City Limits. When the cave where the bats live is blown up by Muckeno, they fly out to Roscoe's farm, unaware that the Flats are losing their home to foreclosure. Roscoe and Opal string up clotheslines in the barn so that the bats have somewhere to stay during a storm, but everyone needs a long term solution to their displacement. Roscoe and Opal move to Austin, where they find a bridge under which the bats can live. The flocks of bats, however, panic the population of the city. Can Opal convince the citizens of her new home that the bats are an asset?
Strengths: There are lots of good details about Austin's music scene in the 1980s, and despite the sad beginning, is an upbeat story. Opal does seem to have some actual exchanges of information with the bats, (she knows, for example, that many of them are orphans like she is) if not conversations, so this does have a fantasy aspect to it. Uncle Roscoe, despite his poor financial planning, is a good choice for a guardian for Opal, and the two have a great relationship. Their move to Austin improves the quality of their lives, since Roscoe is able to get a job at a newspaper as well as at a Radio Shack (I hope he retired before he lost both of those 1980s gigs!) The illustrations are a nice touch, and showcase musicians of the time as well as historical figures like Nancy Richards and Molly Ivins. Texas readers will enjoy this look at their recent history.
Weaknesses: Don't know what in the Sam Hill Cline was trying to do with the folksy language, but I think it would have limited appeal with my readers. It got tiring hearing about how socially awkward Opal was, and the names were a bit twee (Flats on her father's side and Sharp's on her mother's? Sigh.)
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want folksy, Southern tinged books like Tubbs' Luna Howls at the Moon or Lloyd's The Witching Wind. I will pass on purchasing.
Weaknesses: Don't know what in the Sam Hill Cline was trying to do with the folksy language, but I think it would have limited appeal with my readers. It got tiring hearing about how socially awkward Opal was, and the names were a bit twee (Flats on her father's side and Sharp's on her mother's? Sigh.)
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want folksy, Southern tinged books like Tubbs' Luna Howls at the Moon or Lloyd's The Witching Wind. I will pass on purchasing.
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