On her weekly Saturday flea market treasure hunt with her grandmother, fourth-grader-to-be Ali Miller finds a dusty lava lamp. It doesn't look like the glittery models sold at the mall, but Ali cons her grandmother into buying it for her anyway. When she cleans it up, Little Genie, a 1970s teen genie, appears in a puff of pink smoke. Ali's three wishes get her a tiny purple tiger, 10,000 chocolate bars, and a visit from her favorite boy band. The wishes are temporary, though. Ali ends up looking forward to the first day of school and three more wishes in the next in the series. The well-worn concept of genies and wishes gets a bit of a new spin in Jones's first fiction. The limits on genie magic seem contrived to fit the series format, and the high jinks play out quite tamely. A less sarcastic and less hip version of the TV show "Fairly Odd Parents," this will likely do well with girls just ready for chapters. (Fiction. 7-10)Read full book review >