Walking with Miss Millie

Gr 4–6—Set in 1968, this middle school novel touches on issues of bullying, abandonment, domestic violence, unemployment, race, disability, and poverty. A young white girl, Alice, has just moved to Georgia from Ohio. She's soon asked to help her elderly neighbor, a black woman named Miss Millie, by walking her dog each day. Stubborn canine Clarence proves difficult, so Miss Millie and Alice walk him together. As the days go by, Alice and Miss Millie talk about many things, including the destructive history of racism and segregation in the small town. The pacing suffers about halfway through, slowing down considerably and making the last half a bit of a slog. Despite the length, several themes and plot points remain underdeveloped. For example, during the celebration of Alice's 11th birthday, her grandmother and Miss Millie are both in attendance, but it is never explained when or how the two women became accepting of each other, when earlier, the grandmother seemed racist toward Miss Millie or at least unwilling to have her in her home. The father of two other characters, Jake and Pam, is portrayed as a hateful person, verbally and physically abusive, who teaches his children prejudice. It is not clear if or how he reacts when his children eventually befriend Alice and her brother. Ultimately, this is a forced and predictable book in which a naive white heroine learns life lessons from an Auntie Mame character. The text is riddled with stereotypes about black culture. Despite the need for novels set during this time period that explore the painful legacy of racial segregation, the characterizations do more harm than good. The author's attempts to offer platitudes on tolerance and acceptance of others come across as trite and didactic.