Rating: Needs Parent Supervision (My bookshelf for older readers)

Reading level: Middle School

This is a great book for middle school and up. For younger or more sensitive kids kids some of the peril or bullying might be too much.

Possible Concerns:

  • Mental abuse. An evil aunt uses manipulation, cutting words, and other means to mistreat orphaned Millie. She eats Millie’s birthday cupcake and throws her present in the fire because she made an honest mistake, and tells Millie to be better. Then, “I’m doing this to try to teach you, Millie.” And “Tell me you love me” kind of stuff.
  • Slave Labor. Millie is forced to clean an inappropriate amount of time and with unrealistic, unreachable expectations.
  • Stranger Danger. A lady in the woods invites Millie to leave her horrible situation. It was the right choice to leave, but the stranger Danger is worth a conversation with your kid. Also, Millie communes with a strange woodsman and drinks tea he gives her to help her sleep. He ends up being the Satan figure.
  • Use of the term “fatty”. An antagonist uses the term “fatty” to degrade a boy who the narrator calls “chubby” and who eats Millie’s dessert for her.
  • Satanic figure. A woodsman who Millie has trusted turns into a satanic figure when she resists his attempts to not give up and reach her full potential.
  • Peril. There are fires, flesh-eating plants, evil vines, vicious wolves, and other treacherous sutuations that are rather scary.

Things I liked:

  • Identity. As it was with other Dekker books I’ve read, there is a strong theme of battling the voices that say you’re worthless or hopeless.
  • Still small voice. Millie learns to listen to the still small voice of The Great Teacher, who is the God figure, to find her identity in Him. This voice is the voice of truth and love in her heart.
  • Overcoming Bullying. Millie is kind to a bully who later mistreats her.

For the right age group it probably does not need parent supervision, but I err on the helicopter-parent side when it comes to conversations about what we are reading. See also my reviews of Book 2 and Book 3 in the series.

This book was also recommended by ChristianParentReviews.com: https://christianparentreviews.com/book-reviews/Millie-Maven-and-the-Bronze-Medallion