Creativity and friendship: ‘Millie Mak Makes Her Mark’ by Alice Pung

The third and final book in the ‘Millie Mak’ series (my review of book 2 is here) takes young readers back into Millie’s world: family, friends, being creative with crafts and textiles.

Her world extends just a little in the two stories within this book. In ‘Home Work’ she discovers that looking after younger siblings doesn’t always have to be frustrating and annoying. She meets new friends and has insights into the lives of others, beyond her own small family. She experiences heartache and worry when her beloved Pop becomes unwell. And through it all, she uses her creative skills to stitch together bonds with her closest friends and her neighbours.

‘The Lotus’ introduces other concerns: the anxiety experienced by one of her friends; issues of the environment, especially the problems of ‘fast fashion’; the hardships faced by people in other countries and past times. Once again, the ‘Fru-Gals’ use their special skills to find solutions to some of these and in doing so, their friendships are reaffirmed and strengthened.

The Millie Mak books are odes to the values of kindness, creativity, neighbourliness, doing your bit to help, and having fun.
The lovely black and white illustrations by Sher Rill Ng once again bring Millie and her friends to life on the page.

Millie Mak Makes Her Mark was published by HarperCollins Children’s books in August 2025.
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy.