I just finished reading Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller, and I’m so excited to share my thoughts with you!

This book is a heartwarming and whimsical adventure that will capture your heart from the very first page. Chanel Miller’s storytelling is both charming and deeply touching, making it a perfect read for middle-grade readers and anyone young at heart.

One of my favorite moments in the book is when Magnolia and her new friend, Iris, embark on a mission to reunite lost socks with their owners. There’s a hilarious scene where they visit a quirky plant store, and Magnolia tries to convince the owner to help them by showing him a sock puppet she made. The owner’s reaction is both funny and heartwarming, and it perfectly captures the spirit of the book. This adventure not only brings Magnolia and Iris closer together but also teaches them valuable lessons about friendship and community.

What I love most about Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All is how it balances humor and heartfelt moments. The characters are wonderfully developed, and their journey is filled with creativity, kindness, and a lot of fun. Miller’s narrative voice is pitch-perfect, making every page a delightful experience.

If you’re looking for a book that’s both fun and meaningful, Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All is a must-read. Trust me, you’ll fall in love with Magnolia and her adventures!

This was a quick, quirky, fun middle grade. Loved the characters, the unique setting, and the interesting story line.

super quick read. The illustrations definitely added to the story. Loved that it takes place in my favorite city, NYC.

Chanel is a new to me author but one I definitely want to check out.

Magnolia is a young girl who lives in NYC with her parents. They own a laundromat. What her parents don't know is that Magnolia is a little embarrassed by that. She will hide when friends go in.

One day her mother announces that he friend has moved back and has a daughter the same age. At first Magnolia goes along with it to make her mother happy but Magnolia ends up really liking Iris.

Although the day they meet its not a great day because a customer was really rude and mean to her mother. She even critize the look of the laundromat which Magnolia ends up taking to heart. because of the lost socks bulletin board. They girls take it upon themselves to return the lost socks to their owners but can they find them just by the socks clues?

One of the things I loved was the stories behind the socks.

i don't know if i had middle grade books as good as this one when i was middle grade (whatever that is), but i do know that i'm glad that today's middlest grades and all the middles of the future do.

this was sweet and fun, cute and whimsical and inspirational with a little lesson that felt nice and true and not cheesy. and also really great drawings. i enjoyed just about every second of it.

In MAGNOLIA WU UNFOLDS IT ALL, ten-year-old Magnolia spends a lot of time in the New York City laundromat run by her immigrant parents. She’s started a collection of the single socks left behind by patrons. With her new friend Iris, she becomes a Sock Detective, and they set out on an adventure to reunite the singleton socks with their owners. Along the way, they meet some unexpected challenges, but also learn about their community, their families, and themselves and gain an understanding that things might not always be as they seem on the surface. The author has created a vibrant celebration of community and connection with plenty of warmth and humor to cushion the complex content about racism, bullying, and discrimination that the detectives encounter. A fantastic middle grade read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing a copy of the book with me.

Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller [Penguin Books #Netgalley #egalley]

In this heartwarming middle grade novel about family, friendship, and community, Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All tells the story of young Magnolia who live in NYC with her parents who run a laundromat. She has this idea of pinning lost socks on a board, in hopes that their owners will come and find them. And when they don't, she feels disappointed but with the help of a new friend and community members along the way, she finds herself on a journey through her community. Magnolia realizes that she's had a whole community around her all along.

I really enjoyed this read and found it absolutely charming as Magnolia and Iris adventure through their NYC neighbourhood. The little illustrations that were in the book also added to its charm and characters.

I didn’t expect this to be Chanel Miller’s next book after her memoir, but it’s incredibly well-crafted. The perfect chapter book for elementary schoolers, might I say! I have fond memories of books like this being read aloud during story times at school, and I’m sure many children today will enjoy it. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Magnolia!

Thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC!

Chanel Miller is an incredible writer, illustrator, and human. I was predisposed to like this book because I've liked everything of hers I've read, from long form essays, to her autobiography, to the short, perfect comics she shares on Instagram.

This tender and special book follows two nine year old girls having adventures in New York City as they sleuth about to connect missing socks with their owners. It covers a Russian novel's worth of big topics--friendship, family, bullying, homesickness, racism and anti-immigrant rhetoric-- and does them all justice with Miller's thoughtful prose.

She has a real talent for highlighting tiny yet significant moments between people and an observant eye for the beauty in the mundane. This is a very dear little book and would be a nice gift for anyone (nine and up feels right).

Review also shared to goodreads.

This is Chanel Miller as silly and cuttingly insightful as ever. I've enjoyed the comics that she's posted on her instagram for a long time, and this fits in neatly with that body of work. The story follows Magnolia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants living in NYC. Magnolia faces issues such as bullies, the plight of making new friends, expectations from parents, and racism. She also leans into her communities to lead with curiosity and joy. This combination is truly the mark of Chanel Miller, who demonstrates that there is still so much to love and marvel at in our broken world. The perfect book for young people, and I'll keep reading anything Chanel Miller published.

A sweet, but not saccharine book. I wasn’t sure what to expect given that this book is for a very different audience than the author’s first, but I think young readers will really enjoy it.

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Magnolia Wu lives in NYC. She spends most of her time in the laundromat that her mom and dad own. She doesn't have any friends, really, but that's okay. Then her mom's friend returns to NYC with her daughter, Iris. Together they decide to return all the missing socks that end up at the laundromat to their rightful owners.

Along the way, they learn a lot about people and even some about themselves.

Very good MG book. Highly recommend.

This was such a great book! I loved how they handled serious topics and made the whole experience fun and engaging.

I love that the character in this middle grade book is turning 10 years old. Most middle grade books focus on the 11-12 year old set and leave out our third and fourth graders. Reading the author's notes about their journey to writing this book, moving to NYC at the beginning of the pandemic and exploring the laundromats, added to my enjoyment while reading this book. Solving the mysteries of the missing socks reminded of the old classic, Harriet the Spy. The little illustrations sprinkled throughout the book are also a nice touch. The only thing I don't love about this book is the cover, it looks old/dated. I'd love to see the cover with a big washing machine tumbling some mismatched socks!

This kids book was adorable and had little tokens of life lesions sprinkled throughout the story. I loved it. Magnolia Wu and her friend Iris learn a lot about life as they look for the owners of lost socks left at the laundromat. The Chinatown/NYC vibe in this book was also amazing. As an adult, I enjoyed this story, but what a great story for a kid. This one is worth picking up.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read such a cute story in exchange for a review.

When I read Know My Name and heard Chanel say she has always wanted to publish a book but unfortunately that her first book had to be about something so awful, I knew I would read anything else she published. It makes me so happy to hear she was finally able to become a published author writing something FUN. This book was so cute and I loved all the graphics and doodles.

Chanel Miller’s debut middle-grade novel should become a classic. It joins the elite tier of “media that makes me excited about New York City,” which is anchored by middle-grade novels that share an affinity with this one—Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy (1964) and E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967). Miller’s prose sparkles like these, lyrical and whimsical and yet also marked by solidity. Another good comp is Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great Is Not Okay (2018, see my 11/24/23 post)—Khorram and Miller are both astute and generous in exploring difficult family relationships and sustaining friendships.

Magnolia Wu, age 9, spends a lot of time at the laundromat her parents operate. They’re always busy, and Magnolia feels alone—until Iris Lam moves from California. Iris becomes her first real friend when she takes an interest in Magnolia’s board of lost socks from the laundromat. The two embark on an adventure to unite each lost sock with its owner. This involves creative thinking and circuitous routes around their urban neighborhood. The sock detectives never find the right answer right away, and they’re perfectly happy with that.

Magnolia and Iris meet local business owners and other kids, and get to know their hidden depths. Some kids have parents who are abusive, withholding, or simply distracted. They learn about adults’ immigration stories and contend with racism. All of the tales brim with compassion. These topics get all the gravity they deserve, but appropriately for the age group—the book made me cry multiple times yet still feel good. Miller writes that she didn’t want fear to be “the driving force of their lives, and they are led solely by their curiosity and desires.”

This is an ode to imagination and community, a charge to really get to know people and show your love. The whimsical black-and-white illustrations add to the book’s simultaneously retro and contemporary feeling. I wonder whose hidden depths I might get to know soon. I’m so glad to live a world with this book.

(CW: anti-Asian racism; emotional and physical abuse by parents discussed)

Magnolia spends a lot of time at her parents’ laundromat and grows to feel bad for all the lost socks she finds—so much so that she has pinned them to a corkboard on the wall hoping their owners will reclaim them. Enter Iris, a newly transplanted Californian who not only sees Magnolia for the sweet kid she is, but also appreciates her sock goals. With Iris’ encouragement, she and Magnolia embark on a quest to reunite each sock with its owner. While on this quirky mission, Magnolia and Iris learn the meaning of friendship and community.

But what makes the story truly wonderful are the individual people (sock owners) we meet along the way and how they help Iris and Magnolia grow. As the individual sock stories unfold, the book explores how a seemingly everyday item can help kids learn about trying new things, not assuming you understand someone when you don’t know their whole story, dealing with loss and xenophobia, and accepting that not all adventures need to have a clear end point to be good. There was also one really poignant moment when Iris explains why being a sock detective is so important to her. I won’t spoil it other than to say that if you, like me, are a crier, you might need a tissue handy.

Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All beautifully balances the joy of childhood with the inevitable realities that kids start to face as they get older. For middle grade readers, I think this book will help them understand a bit more of that balancing act as well. Plus, it has super cute illustrations that really add to the joy of the book.

Ummm excuse but this book is dang perfect.

Chanel Miller has created a page turner of a chapter book for young readers with the emphasis of socks🧦 and oh my word does it hit you in the feels.

This is a fun story about Magnolia Wu… sock detective… why socks?!? Her family owns a laundromat in NYC and this summer she meets a new friend Iris who encourages Magnolia to sleuth whose socks have been left at the laundromat.

I loved these characters and the stories that unfolded from finding the owner of said socks. A fun adventure… that gives Harriet the Spy 🔎 vibes.

Thank you Philomel Books 📖
Releases 4/23

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.Andthebookshelf/

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5 Stars!

Know My Name, one of my favorite books, continues to mean so much to me. I always hoped that Chanel Miller would write another book. While I did not expect her next publication to be middle grade fiction, I have definitely not been disappointed.

Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All had me bawling my eyes out over socks. As I read this, I quickly realized the story was not about the socks but about uncovering the hidden stories of the people they belong to as well as the people Magnolia and Iris ran into along the way.

Magnolia- an almost 10 year old girl whose parents own a NYC laundromat- meets Iris, a friend “blind date” set up through their mothers. Magnolia and Iris are both children of East Asian immigrants however this does not bond them at first. Instead, the two become Sock Detectives and look for the owners of all the single socks left behind at the laundromat.

They encounter anti-Asian hate in their journey across the city, looking for the sock owners. It is heartbreaking to imagine these two young girls, not yet jaded by life, have to face the cruel realities of it. However, they also meet many lovely people, too. People that teach them the importance of small things and how they can outweigh the bad when you pay attention.

I adored these girls and this story, and hope everyone feeling a little jaded by life can pick this up and enjoy it. Sometimes it takes a child’s perspective to help an adult see.

Thank you, Chanel, for another beautifully written story ❤️

And thank you NetGalley and 🐧 Penguin Young Readers for this e-ARC!

this was so fun!! Chanel Miller is obviously such a talented storyteller and I'm so happy to see her writing shining in this fun adventure.
My only complaint is that it all went by too quickly! Maybe I'm just not used to middle grade pacing anymore, but so much happened in this and I just wanted it to be longer, or take more time to linger on each big reveal/lesson.
Would definitely read the next installment(s) if this is going to be a series!