I’ve been a fan of Kate Messner‘s since I read The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, Her newest novel The Seventh Wish (Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2016) doesn’t disappoint as it explores the old phrase of “be careful what you wish for.”
Charlie Brennan is originally on the ice fishing to earn money for a fancy Irish dancing dress, but when she pulls up a magical talking fish, she starts wishing for a lot of different things. The wishes don’t work out as Charlie had hoped. Then her life gets seriously messed up when her college age sister has a crisis that cancels her trip to the feis (dance competition.)
Readers will sympathize with twelve-year-old Charlie and enjoy meeting her friends and discovering their problems. Flour babies, anyone? I now know a lot more about ice fishing and Irish dance than I ever have before–love those bonuses when reading a story.
Sadly, this book experienced some censorship earlier this year. It blows my mind that it did. Here’s an interview with Kate on the topic.
A fun place to visit on Kate Messner’s website is her photo gallery. There you can see places where she did research, items she tasted or touched for research, and more.
This one is on my TBR list. Can’t wait to read it.
So many Kate Messner novels, and I haven’t read one of them yet! I’ve been a fan of wish-gone-wrong stories ever since Edward Eager’s Half Magic. And I did the Irish dance thing with my daughter for many years, so I know how much those dresses cost, and how much the girls desire them!
I’m curious about the censorship; thanks for the link to the interview.