Wishing Day

February 15, 2016
When budding writer Natasha turns 13 and makes three wishes under a willow tree, she feels a hint of magic in the air. Since her mother’s disappearance eight years ago, Natasha has been defined by her helpfulness, attending to her younger sisters, their forgetful father, and two aunts. After wishing for her first kiss, her mother to be alive, and to be “somebody’s favorite,” Natasha finds mysterious notes of encouragement around town and receives curious riddles from an eccentric Bird Lady concerning her mother. Following the riddles, Natasha realizes that her mother’s disappearance is more complicated than she first believed. Concentrating on the idea that “beneath the ordinary world lies a hidden world,” Myracle (the Internet Girls series) infuses enchantment into a heartwarming and well-written tale of sisters navigating a world without their mother. Though there are more questions than answers by the novel’s end (the book is first in a planned trilogy), Myracle leaves readers with the powerful idea that wishing is more about appreciating what one already has than about getting what one wants. Ages 8–12. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary.

March 1, 2016
In sleepy Willow Hill, a girl's many wishes come true. That's what people say about wishes made on the third night of the third month after her 13th birthday. Seventh-grader Natasha Blok isn't quite sure she believes this, but after her magical wishing night she does make her first kiss happen. Will the other two come true as well? The oldest of three motherless girls fewer than three years apart in age, Natasha is the responsible one, but she has a secret side: she writes stories. She longs for someone to see all of her, to be "somebody's favorite." When she starts getting mysterious messages, she thinks maybe that wish is coming true--or maybe it's her "impossible wish": that her mother were still alive. Grounded firmly in present-day middle school life, this has just enough magic to be unsettling and keep readers engaged. Natasha and her sisters, pretty Darya and creative Ava, are clearly drawn, believable characters; all are white. Her encounters with the elderly, enigmatic Bird Lady are deliciously puzzling. The chronologically straightforward third-person narrative is organized into sections separated by other characters' revealing wishes and propelled by convincing dialogue. One of Natasha's seventh-grade successes is finally finishing a story; usually they are as unfinished as this one, first in a planned trilogy. Readers like her sisters will be eager to see where her story goes. (Fiction. 9-13)

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February 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-Thirteen-year-old Natasha is a responsible girl. The eldest in a family of girls, she is the one who has tried to keep things going since her mom left several years earlier. After moving in with their aunts, the girls kept going as well as could be expected. But now it is Natasha's Wishing Day-the third Wednesday after her 13th birthday. It's a town tradition for the girls to trudge up to the old willow tree on the hill, duck the canopy, and make three wishes. This is no fairy tale land; this is the real world. But unlike her sister Darya or her best friend, Molly, Natasha wants to believe in the magic-the magic that might make her life a little easier. After she makes her wishes, some things do seem to change, but are they because of the tree? Beyond a family or friendship story, issues of mental illness, homelessness, and what it means to be a girl are explored without tipping into the realm of overt message. Natasha's growing pains are real, and while the circumstances of her family make them more acute, the magical realism within the pages adds a lambent quality to the narrative. VERDICT This unique coming-of-age story with an ardent protagonist belongs in all middle grade collections.-Stacy Dillon, LREI, New York City

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2016
Grades 4-7 According to local tradition, Wishing Day for Natasha comes three months and three nights after her thirteenth birthday. Under a full moon, she reluctantly, indecisively climbs the hill to the willow tree, presses her palm against the trunk, and silently makes three wishes. One is predictable, given that her mother disappeared seven years earlier. The second is frivolous, and the third is heartfelt. While two of the wishes come true within the narrative, readers can only hope that the third will be resolved before the planned trilogy is complete. Meanwhile, there's plenty to enjoy in Natasha's immediate story of family, friends, and the first stirrings of romance. Portraying characters in ways that make them immediately easy to differentiate and ultimately memorable, Myracle lets the reader decide whether magic is really coming into play. The touch of fantasy seems more believable because the story is so firmly grounded in realistic details of setting, character, and plot. Reminiscent of Wendy Mass' popular Willow Falls series, beginning with 11 Birthdays (2009), this novel will intrigue the same audience. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A five-city tour, parenting outreach, promo giveaways, and more reiterate that this is Myracle's narrative sweet spot.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
Local tradition grants thirteen-year-old girls in Willow Hill three wishes, and Natasha wonders how to use hers. As the wishes loom, they influence realistic conflicts with her sisters, aunts, best friend, and new crush; most important is a wish concerning her missing mother. Myracle's adroit exploration of Natasha's relationships is undercut by an abrupt conclusion.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)