Milla Takes Charge

April 23, 2018
The Disney Daring Dreamers Club series gets underway with this tale that meshes tropes from the Disney Princess world and the story of five fifth graders at Walter Roy (as in Disney) Elementary. Their advisory-group leader, a free-spirited art teacher, tells them to “dare to dream big!” and gives them journals to write about “a princess you connect with or feel inspired by.” Bookish, adventure-seeking Milla, who feels smothered by her overprotective mothers, is torn between Rapunzel and Belle until (in one of the book’s cornier lines), a friend points out, “You have a teacup pig named Chip! You are totally Belle!” Soderberg’s (the Puppy Pirates series) plot gets bogged down by Milla’s angst that her parents won’t let her go on the much-anticipated class overnight-adventure trip, a worry that further deepens when her attempts to prove she’s responsible backfire. But Milla shines brightly on the outing, demonstrating the outdoor skills she’s learned from books and her intuitive ability to be a good friend. Though core issues of identity, independence, and teamwork ground the novel, Disney Princess devotees will likely be the most charmed. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12.

May 1, 2018
In the first book of this new Disney series, Milla learns to recognize her own strengths as she pursues an adventure with a new group of friends. Fifth-grader Milla, a brown-skinned girl with puffy black curls, loves reading about and writing adventures, but her real-life exploits are limited. Her two moms worry about her being out on her own due to her severe food allergies and a dog bite when she was younger. The fifth-grade overnight Adventure Camp trip seems like a good chance for Milla to take a step toward independence. With the help of new friends in the Daring Dreamers Club and their adviser, the flamboyant Ms. Bancroft, Milla devises plans to show her moms how responsible she can be. The girls in the club have varied interests as well as some surface ethnic and religious diversity: Mariana mentions her abuela; Caroline is Jewish; Zahra is Somali and wears hijab, and she delivers a robotic-sounding monologue about her discomfort with Milla's pet pig due to her "Islamic faith." The inclusion of Disney princesses in the storyline is neither subtle nor convincing. Ms. Bancroft has the girls write about a princess they relate to, not because she sees that they are interested in princesses but because, she says, "princesses helped me find my big dream."This book is for readers who are really into princesses and ready for longer chapter books. (Fiction. 8-11)

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