Milly and The Macy’s Parade book review by Zaid

Title of the Book: Milly and The Macy’s Parade 

Author Name: Shana Corey 

Reviewer's Name: Zaid 

 Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

 Date of Publication: 2001 

 Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Marvelous idea, Milly.” In Milly and the Macy’s Parade by Shana Corey and Brett Helquist, we follow the main character Milly during Thanksgiving in New York. This is her family’s first year in America. When first settling in America her parents missed their old Polish traditions and activities, but eventually, they started settling into the American lifestyle. Milly sees an unhappy couple and realizes that so many people are not going to have a good holiday. And so she rushes up the stairs to Mr. Macy in an attempt to fix it. She has the idea of a parade and it ends up being a great success. This story showcases many human values and ideas. Some of them are culture, change, and identity. The vocabulary of this book is pretty on par with the expected reading level. In terms of character motivation, we see that Mr. Macy is trying to lighten the mood of customers to make more money and Milly is doing it in order to make people have a good holiday. This gives us an interesting sort of “2 sides of the same coin” dynamic between the two. 

The art is beautiful and is able to perfectly convey the intended emotions. For example, the couple staring through the window is in the cold dark snow having nothing but each other. They have bags under their eyes and the man’s cold fingers leave marks on the window. Milly on the other hand is in warm light with colorful items and toys all around her. This subconsciously further exemplifies the issue in the reader’s mind. And thus, further makes us agree with Milly’s actions and ideas. The art style is very refined and pleasant to look at. Another really great moment is the wide shot of the parade. It perfectly contrasts the dark gloomy night. Everyone in sight is happy and cheering, the bright blue sky makes all the warm colors pop. The two drawings contrast each other not only visually but also symbolically. This is a really fitting conclusion that leaves the reader satisfied.