Book Review: Millie Fierce by Jane Manning

Millie Fierce by Jane Manning
Published by Philomel Books
Pages: 32
Ages: 3-7
Buy It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble Nook Book | Alibris | Powell’s Books | Indiebound | Book Depository
Publishers Summary:

If Fancy Nancy got angry. Really, really angry.

Millie is quiet. Millie is sweet. Millie is mild. But the kids at school don’t listen to her. And she never gets a piece of birthday cake with a flower on it. And some girls from her class walk right on top of her chalk drawing and smudge it. And they don’t even say they’re sorry!

So that’s when Millie decides she wants to be fierce! She frizzes out her hair, sharpens her nails and runs around like a wild thing. But she soon realizes that being fierce isn’t the best way to get noticed either, especially when it makes you turn mean. So Millie decides to be nice–but to keep a little of that fierce backbone hidden inside her. In case she ever needs it again.

With bright art and an adorable character, it’s easy to empathize with Millie. Because everyone has a bad day, once in a while.

Littlebug Gets Angry: Grrrr…I’m fierce! Just like Millie! Grrrr!

Millie’s just like me! She’s quiet, she likes to draw pictures of flowers and she likes to be silly. Even if no one sees. What I thought was so mean was when the girls in the books stepped all over her flowers. I would be mad too! Grrrr! I don’t think I would make my nails sharp like she does, because I would scratch myself, but I know why she gets mad. Grrrr!

At the end Millie makes another little boy sad and I always get super super sad at this part. She feels really bad and so do I. It’s not nice to be mean like that and I really like the card she makes with the big flower on it.

My mom said I can still be fierce, Grrrr!, without being mean. So I’m going to keep being fierce! Grrrr! But I think I want to be nice too!

Mom’s Two Cents: Life is full of moments. Moments of happiness and elation to moments of sadness and anger. Millie Fierce, a very plain young girl, is at the beginning of many of those moments that make us the people we will one day be. As she struggles to find her voice in a world that would pass her by she travels a path many never expected from her. One filled with fierce anger and often selfishness. Naturally a kind and quiet girl, Millie discovers that the person she truly is happens to be just as fierce, if not more so, than the angry girl she pretended to be.

Surprisingly, I adored this Millie Fierce by Jane Manning. Absolutely adored. I say surprisingly because initially the cover rubbed me entirely the wrong way for some reason. Let me first say that the illustrations are beyond gorgeous and there are even a few I’d love to have for Littlebug’s room, but for one reason or another I didn’t care much for the cover. Yes, Millie is supposed to be fierce for the cover/story, but without having the back story behind why she feels this way it felt like another whinny overly dramatic child on the cover. Being that I am around a sometimes melodramatic three year old twenty four hours a day, you can imagine why the cover wouldn’t scream “read me!” Well, I’m so so glad I investigated beyond the cover and into the pages of such an incredible picture book. Before I get too much further I’d love to share a little about Millie’s background from a section in the book:

One day, Millie was drawing sidewalk pictures.
She had just finished a flower.
It was a little bit crooked,
but it was the best flower she had ever drawn.

All at once, three girls from school marched past her as if she wasn’t there.
They walked all over her flower,
and over it,
and over it,
until it was nothing more than a big, multicolored smudge.

Millie sat there long after the girls had passed.
She looked at the smudge.
“That’s me,” she said.
Millie was tired of feeling like a smudge.
She didn’t like it.
Not one bit.
(p. 9-11, Millie Fierce by Jane Manning)

Who would like feeling like a smudge? Certainly not myself and I don’t believe I’m alone in that. As a child there were times when I was painfully shy and quite often left out of activities because of my timid behavior. It was a painful time and especially so because I was young. A time when we are little we want to be accepted and have friends who appreciate us for who we truly are. Who am I kidding? That’s what most of us want throughout life, adults and children alike. What Millie does in response to this lack of acknowledgment is what many children do (and sometimes adults), she lashes out. Millie becomes enraged and angry. Not caring until it’s too late and she’s become the cause of pain herself.

Is this not one of the ways a bully is created? It gave me pause as this thought crossed my mind one night after reading Millie Fierce again to Littlebug. Not that this would be the only cause by any means, but how many bullies have been created because of a feeling of invisibility? In hopes of garnering the attention they most crave they reach out in the only way they know they can, through anger and rage. In Millie’s case she’s fortunate to know when she’s done too much damage and how important it is to be fiercely kind. But how often do others understand this as well as Millie did? It’s no doubt a powerful message to share with young kiddos beginning to shape their reactions to the actions done to and around them.

What is lovely about Millie Fierce by Jane Manning is it’s heart. This is a book that says listen…watch…reach out…be kind…be your true self. Millie is an ordinary girl, one who isn’t the class clown or popular girl, but important just the same. Her contribution, her beauty and value is worth much more than a smudge on the sidewalk. What Millie shares with readers are powerful messages about valuing those around us and knowing when to rein in our emotions. It’s a story about being true to yourself while at the same time being thoughtful of those around you. Within a short thirty two pages Millie Fierce by Jane Manning beautifully shares messages that will stay with readers for a long time to come and will certainly have them reconsidering how they treat those they come in contact with each and every day.

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 2 and up. Powerful. Beautiful. Fierce. A story for all ages. One with messages about valuing others, reaching out to those around us in need and knowing when to curb anger.

Find Millie Fierce by Jane Manning at the following spots:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble Nook Book | Alibris | Powell’s Books | Indiebound | Book Depository | Goodreads

Follow the entire Millie Fierce Tour:
Thursday, August 16th: Babblin’ Brooke
Friday, August 17th: My ordinary, every day, happily ever after
Monday, August 20th: Frolic and Farce
Tuesday, August 21st: Little Red Reads
Wednesday, August 22nd: Teach Beside Me
Thursday, August 23rd: 50 Book Project
Friday, August 24th: Delightful Education
Monday, August 27th: Geo Librarian
Tuesday, August 28th: Cherry Blossoms
Wednesday, August 29th: Heart Cries
Wednesday, August 29th: Nothing Better Than A Book
Monday, September 3rd: Gingerly Made
Tuesday, September 4th: The Jolly Blogger
Wednesday, September 5th: Maureen’s Musings
Thursday, September 6th: Melissa Northway
Thursday, September 6th: Sweet Southern Home
Friday, September 7th: Inspired By Fiction

Thank you so much to the publisher, Philomel Books, for providing a copy of this book for review in coordination with TLC Book Tours! Connect with them on Twitter and on Facebook!
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