The appealing premise and occasional humor will probably carry readers past the obvious message of this predictable account...
Life gets dull when all your wishes come true.
That’s what sixth-grader Sam discovers after his wish for a million wishes comes true. At first, the white boy’s desires are those of any middle school boy—besting bullies, acquiring large sums of money and superpowers, experimenting with being very large and very small, and flying. He improves things for others in his family: his father's job, his mother's art career, his sister's boyfriend, his brother's nits. Eventually, prompted by his best friend, Evan, he turns to problems in the larger world: he cures Evan's terminally ill father, changes things in a bullying schoolmate’s home, experiments with trying to make everyone in the world nice, and bans death. It’s not until he tries to ban all problems that he realizes that problems are part of life; now his biggest problem is to get rid of all his remaining wishes. This English import includes both interesting philosophical musings about the consequences of wishing and speculations about practical consequences: a giant-sized fast-food burger is nearly inedible; while tiny, Sam is carried away by a sparrow hawk. Sam’s voice is young and believably self-centered, but he does learn that things are better when you have to work for them.
The appealing premise and occasional humor will probably carry readers past the obvious message of this predictable account of wish-fulfillment gone awry. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-90410-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
Charming.
An assortment of unusual characters form friendships and help each other become their best selves.
Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, are antiquarians. Their daughter, Jillian, loves and cares for a plant named Ivy, who has “three speckles on each leaf and three letters in her name.” Toasty, the grumpy goldfish, lives in an octagonal tank and wishes he were Jillian’s favorite; when Arthur the spider arrives inside an antique desk, he brings wisdom and insight. Ollie the violet plant, Louise the bee, and Sunny the canary each arrive with their own quirks and problems to solve. Each character has a distinct personality and perspective; sometimes they clash, but more often they learn to empathize, see each other’s points of view, and work to help one another. They also help the Tupper family with bills and a burglar. The Fan brothers’ soft-edged, old-fashioned, black-and-white illustrations depict Toasty and Arthur with tiny hats; Ivy and Ollie have facial expressions on their plant pots. The Tuppers have paper-white skin and dark hair. The story comes together like a recipe: Simple ingredients combine, transform, and rise into something wonderful. In its matter-of-fact wisdom, rich vocabulary (often defined within the text), hint of magic, and empathetic nonhuman characters who solve problems in creative ways, this delightful work is reminiscent of Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo, and Ivy Lost and Found by Cynthia Lord and Stephanie Graegin.
Charming. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942485
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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