Wish - Barbara O'Connor - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Barbara O'Connor

NARRATOR: Suzy Jackson

GENRE: Middle-grade Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: August 30, 2016

RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade novel about a little girl with a secret wish. A nice mix of characters though the lead character is not exactly typical middle-grade material. Somewhat bittersweet themes, and a good ending as befits the genre. Can lead to a thought-provoking discussion with kids. Not a perfect read, though.

Plot Preview:

Colby, North Carolina. Charlie Reese, who is almost eleven, has been making the same wish every single day since more than a year. By now, she is an expert at knowing all the ways possible to make a wish. However, when she is sent away to the Blue Ridge mountains to stay with her maternal aunt and her husband, whom Charlie hasn’t even met before, the little girl is sure that her wish won't ever come true in a backward town filled with “hillbillies”. But as we know, life has a way of throwing surprises your way when you least expect them.

The story comes to us in Charlie’s first-person perspective.

Some middle-grade books are purely entertaining, while some lend themselves to introspection and discussions. This book is in the latter category.

Some middle-grade books feature protagonists who are brave and kind and loving, while others are led by a character whose behaviour needs a lot of finetuning. This book is in the latter category.

Some middle-grade books depict the merits of the family you are born into while others highlight how a family can be built in different ways. This book is in the latter category.

In several ways, this is a typical middle-grade book. It offers a protagonist facing challenges, a nice new friend who becomes the voice of reason, and a loveable canine. However, it also breaks the norm several times, especially in its depiction of the lead character. This doesn’t necessarily work to its advantage.

Charlie isn’t an inspiring protagonist in any way. She is quick to lose her temper, is rude without justification, has a strong bias against the people she looks down upon as “hillbillies”, and is envious of her older sister. Charlie’s family background isn't the kind you often see in this genre. Her father is imprisoned and her mother seems to be facing a severe mental health issue. As such, several of Charlie’s problems can be attributed to her upbringing, but several others are directly because of her closemindedness. I am not a fan of the “Bullies need to be forgiven if their home circumstances are bad” theory; deliberate bad behaviour towards others is never justified.

In such cases, it is nice to see the character learn from their mistakes, change their thinking, and apologise when needed. Charlie does have a learning curve over the course of the story, but it is a bit too slow and unsteady to be satisfactory. She gets away with a lot in the book, and I am not sure what signal this sends to young readers.

The rest of the characters compensate excellently. Charlie’s Aunt Bertha and Uncle Gus are gems in every way. Middle-grade books often depict foster parents from within the extended family as being cruel or selfish, so seeing Bertha and Gus portrayed as kind-hearted and loving human beings was a refreshing change. Charlie’s new friend Howard and his family are also great characters, possibly too good to be true. As we see ‘Wishbone’ the dog on the cover, it would be easy to assume that he has a proper role in the story. But Wishbone is present in hardly a handful of scenes. He does add fun to the story, but I wish he had a larger presence in the plot, especially considering the cover.

Through Charlie’s experiences, the story offers several lessons to its little readers. Be it inculcating an attitude of gratitude for life’s little blessings, not being envious of others based on partial information, retaining hope even when things seem dismal, and not judging people based on hearsay or physical appearance, the lessons are not just important but also highly relevant in today’s world. Even Bertha and Gus are stellar examples of positive parenting, though they were a bit too lax for my liking. My favourite was the ‘problems on the clothesline’ analogy, something we all would do well to remember.

Charlie’s wishes are an important part of the story. Quite interesting how she knows so many ways of making wishes! Kids would already be aware of a couple of them, but they might enjoy the new wish-making methods as well. That said, this is merely a motif and doesn’t influence the story in any way. Don’t expect any magic or magical realism.

The plot itself is somewhat bland and predictable. Of course, middle-grade stories are often straightforward considering the target age group. But this book was a bit too on-the-nose about it. Also, I disliked the stereotyping of “Southern” USA – the portrayal seems too cliched. I have no personal experience to offer in this regard, so my opinion is just based on whatever books I have read set in this part of the world.

The ending is apt for the plot. Not too perfect, not too coincidental, not too forced. Just the best option possible given the circumstances.

The story is written in an easy-to-understand language. Do note that Charlie’s first-person includes a few regionalisms that might be considered grammatical errors elsewhere. (“Me and Howard” or “can’t hardly believe”) Her speaking style suits her character.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 4 hrs 41 min, is narrated by Suzy Jackson. She is outstanding! She gets the accents and the emotions right for all the characters. But the plot itself was such that I kept zoning out of the audio every now and then. The middle was especially challenging to sit through as it felt dragged.

Overall, this is a decent story, but fairly run-of-the-mill, found-family, middle-grade fiction. Charlie’s behaviour and circumstances ensure a touching and thought-provoking experience, but her character itself isn't a role model in any way except in her love for Wishbone. I wish some of her positive attributes had been highlighted more. That said, the lessons offered by the plot are important.

Recommended but not with gusto. This book will be a good option for middle-graders and adults to read together and discuss some of the finer points.

This was a library read. This book has a new companion novel titled ‘Dream’, which is next on my reading list. I *wish* it works better than this book.