Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller (Philomel Books, April 2024) is a somewhat ridiculous but delightful short chapter book about finding not just entertainment during a boring summer but also building friendships with unexpected people. Magnolia and her new friend from California, Iris, undertake a project: find the owners of all the unmatched socks discovered in Magnolia’s family laundromat, a place of both annoyance and embarassment for Magnolia.
As can be expected, a children’s book about finding the owners of lost socks most likeley is formulaic, convenient, and funny, and this assumption is certainly true. It’s super helpful that all the lost socks have different colors and patterns that directly relate to people Magnolia knows in New York City. Iris is new to New York City so she both lacks friends and isn’t familiar with the area; Magnolia herself has been withdrawn because of her embarassment with the family laundromat and Chinese culture, so she too has few friends. Then, Lily has the idea to find the owners of the lost socks. Their partnership and successful search brings together a group of a diverse and accepting group of friendly people into their lives, to everyone’s statisfaction.
By the end of the story, the girls’ initial loneliness has led to the realization that everyone wants friends, even people that they had previously believed were confident and happy. Magnolia and Iris had wanted to be a part of something bigger than their limited corner of the city, and their journey to find the owners of the lost socks was a way to positively bring that purpose to life for all of the new friends in the busy city.
The author acknowledges the somewhat improbable nature of the book, and I appreciate that. Nonetheless, the convenience doesn’t detract from the fact that it is also a really fun book. It’s a perfect read for tweens especially for summer time, since it takes place in the hot drippy days of summer in New York City. Kids looking for a book about friendship with a little bit of humor will most appreciate it. In addition, Magnolia and Iris share a lot about their families’ Asian cultures, so readers will either see themselves mirrored back or will learn from the window into a different culture perspective. The diverse cast of new friends, who are delighted to find their lost socks, will give the reader a pleasant satisfaction by the end of Magnolia’s summer search.