Dubbed “quirky” by her mother (an assessment readers will likely agree with), Millie narrates her own well-paced story in a flow of verbiage she often has trouble stemming. She is “the boss” but defers to her mom, who happens to be the mayor of Washington, D.C. Mayor Maude’s a single parent (Millie’s father is dead), but her assistant, Josephine Draper, adds more rules, like insisting that Millie’s pet chick, Extra Spicy, live in the coop outside. Millie and her “bestest friends,” Lunchbox, Poppy Anne, and Atticus, also face a sneaky, name-calling bully, Buckley. (Mazique drops an early clue: Only recently has Buckley “become so mean.”) Other conflicts involve Millie learning she can’t take Extra Spicy to the school’s Family Field Day and competing against Buckley in the three-legged race. It strains credulity somewhat that both teacher and principal fail to get Millie’s side of the bullying story, but Mazique gives Millie a relatable awareness of her struggles with impulse control, like “not being quiet and not sitting in my seat.” Eventually things improve in a teachable turnaround that’s a bit abrupt but still moving. Glenn’s realistic cartoon-style drawings portray Mille, her family, the principal, and Atticus as Black; the teacher, Poppy Anne, and Buckley as white; and Lunchbox as East Asian.
