Millie Magnus for Mayor (Millie Magnus #2)

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Co-Authors / Illustrators
Age Range
6+
Release Date
September 25, 2025
ISBN
978-0593618813
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The second installment in a hilarious and charming chapter book series featuring exuberant and irresistible third-grader Millie Magnus.

When Millie Magnus hears hints of a plan to tear down the neighborhood playground, she knows she and her friends absolutely can’t let that happen. Millie believes she’s the obvious choice to lead the charge—she lives with the mayor after all. And no one, and I mean no one, cares about saving the playground more than her.

But when a group of cool fourth graders known as the Real Chill Pickles join the effort, Millie discovers that being a good leader might be trickier than she thought. The more Millie tries to tell everyone what to do, the more they don’t want to work with her.

Soon, the Pickles and a few of her friends have quit, leaving Mayor Millie to wonder where she went wrong. Is it possible Millie’s memories with her dad at the park have made her a tad overzealous? Can she make up with her friends and confront her fear of change before it’s too late?

Editor review

1 review
Saving the world... whether it needs saving or not
(Updated: June 29, 2026)
Overall rating
 
4.0
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
4.0
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.
Good Points
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.
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