You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
Initially I was going to give this book 3 stars, mostly as the ending was not really much of an ending. Then I saw this is the first of more, hopefully a trilogy with a book for each of the three sisters in the story.
Natasha lives in a town where girls have a tradition of making 3 wishes on their 13th birthdays. Natasha uses two of her wishes as most 13 year old girls would, but with the third she wishes for her mother, who left when she was 5, to return. Mostly this is a story about sisters, friendship, and the woes of entering the teenage years. But, Natasha also is dealing with the pain of a parent leaving, a parent's depression, and the hope that it can all be magically fixed.
Good for ages 11 and up.
Natasha lives in a town where girls have a tradition of making 3 wishes on their 13th birthdays. Natasha uses two of her wishes as most 13 year old girls would, but with the third she wishes for her mother, who left when she was 5, to return. Mostly this is a story about sisters, friendship, and the woes of entering the teenage years. But, Natasha also is dealing with the pain of a parent leaving, a parent's depression, and the hope that it can all be magically fixed.
Good for ages 11 and up.
There’s magic in the town of Willow Hill and on the third night of the third month after a girl’s thirteenth birthday, they are allowed to make three wishes. Natasha is the first out of her sisters to make a wish; the first wish she makes is impossible, but the second two are more reasonable. As time goes on, she realizes how not so impossible her first wish turns out be. This was a lot heavier than the reader had anticipated. The reader thought going in that this would be a cozy fun read, but this touched on depression and mental illness more than what was expected. It was still a fun read with all the magic; it was fun to learn about this world and everyone in it. The reader enjoyed that the heavier topics were given just as much space as the lighter and fluffier topics which gave it a nice balance. The pacing could have been a little better though. It felt like at times it would get really intense and really fast, then it would sort of slow down to a crawl until the next big thing happened. The sisterhood bonds in this were so well formed. It was such a joy to watch the ups and downs of their relationship as they protected each other. Even the sisterhood from the aunts was fun to read as they also had their own ups and downs. The aunts sort of reminded the reader of the aunts from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, so that was fun. All the characters felt pretty developed but there were a few who showed up who weren’t developed much, nor did the reader really get their part exactly. Hopefully in the coming novels there will be more because the reader feels they will be a crucial role in the story. The way this ended left so much to be discovered. It felt like the plot was just picking up as this first novel was ending so now the reader has to read the second novel because we need to find out what is going to happen next. Overall, this was a good start to a trilogy; it had magic and hope, mystery and intrigue and a lot of heart.
I really enjoyed this book by Lauren Myrical. I felt so sorry for Natasha about what she's have to gone through during the past eight years of her life. I can't imagine my mum ever leaving, my dad being super depressed & not talking or being around & living with my aunties (not that I dot like my aunties, it's just their not my real parents), especially becoming further away from my sister. Natasha did really well to keep going.
I found I related to Natasha a lot throughout the book. Like with her not being very confident around other people, her sisters being social butterfly's & her best friend also being quite sociable & loud. Also how she didn't want to share some things with her friend because she was scared of what Molly would say or do.
I'm glad she found out that Stanly was her secret admirer, she deserved better than Benton. I felt quite sorry for her when the awkward moment happened and she embarrassed herself in front of Stanly, then quickly running away to think things over. But in the end she made things better for her & Stanly.
At the end when she received he letters from her mother was like magic. I mean even if her wish didn't come true, and her mum didn't come back to her but she got the noted saying that she was still alive. It doesn't say in the book but personally I like to think that The Bird Lady is her mum, just because she was giving her the letters, and to me it just seemed right. And the fact that Natasha secretly knew her mum was still alive was just her mums and herself's little secret, and Natasha's sisters, father & aunties probably won't know.
Overall I give this book a 4.75 I would defiantly recommend this book for between 8-12 year olds.
I found I related to Natasha a lot throughout the book. Like with her not being very confident around other people, her sisters being social butterfly's & her best friend also being quite sociable & loud. Also how she didn't want to share some things with her friend because she was scared of what Molly would say or do.
I'm glad she found out that Stanly was her secret admirer, she deserved better than Benton. I felt quite sorry for her when the awkward moment happened and she embarrassed herself in front of Stanly, then quickly running away to think things over. But in the end she made things better for her & Stanly.
At the end when she received he letters from her mother was like magic. I mean even if her wish didn't come true, and her mum didn't come back to her but she got the noted saying that she was still alive. It doesn't say in the book but personally I like to think that The Bird Lady is her mum, just because she was giving her the letters, and to me it just seemed right. And the fact that Natasha secretly knew her mum was still alive was just her mums and herself's little secret, and Natasha's sisters, father & aunties probably won't know.
Overall I give this book a 4.75 I would defiantly recommend this book for between 8-12 year olds.
Really on the fence about how to review this book.
There is a lot to love: Strong cast of characters, each with great personality. Very realistic dialog and middle-school emotional struggles. Contemporary, but with a delightful twist of magic.
But when I got to the end of the book, I was utterly disappointed. It felt as though the author left off the final couple of chapters.
I understand now that there will be a sequel, but it still didn't feel like a complete story arc. And the final chapters made me feel sad - in a "this is depressing" sort of way. I expect a 1960s French film to trail off that way, but not a MG read.
Maybe I'll feel differently when I read the sequel.
There is a lot to love: Strong cast of characters, each with great personality. Very realistic dialog and middle-school emotional struggles. Contemporary, but with a delightful twist of magic.
But when I got to the end of the book, I was utterly disappointed. It felt as though the author left off the final couple of chapters.
I understand now that there will be a sequel, but it still didn't feel like a complete story arc. And the final chapters made me feel sad - in a "this is depressing" sort of way. I expect a 1960s French film to trail off that way, but not a MG read.
Maybe I'll feel differently when I read the sequel.
This book had a very good storyline, mixing in magic with every day life. The characters were great and easy to fall in love with. This story also gave me so many feelings of happiness.
What would you say about a book that has a bird lady that grants girls 3 wishes on their 13th birthday, and deals more with the consequences of those wishes as a result?
I don't know, because it's a weird book that I enjoyed but can't really come to a real conclusion about. It's very different in many regards, as one expects at this point from Lauren Myracle. I wish I had more to say about this, especially given the dearth of true consequences existing in middle school titles, but this book mostly succeeds and yet doesn't endure for me.
I don't know, because it's a weird book that I enjoyed but can't really come to a real conclusion about. It's very different in many regards, as one expects at this point from Lauren Myracle. I wish I had more to say about this, especially given the dearth of true consequences existing in middle school titles, but this book mostly succeeds and yet doesn't endure for me.
I don't remember much as I read it years ago, but it wasn't quite as magical as I had expected it to be. Not much character development and the story never really developed either. Still good though.
medium-paced
I accidentally listened to the audiobook version of this book thinking that it was Wishtree by Applegate. What a terrible mistake. I'm so sorry to rip this apart as much as I'm about to, but it was truly awful. I couldn't relate to the characters, any of them, but I thought that perhaps a child with siblings could. Natasha, a girl with the mind of a writer, is curious about nothing, and allows herself to not have any idea why her mother "disappeared." No one talks about it, and she's not sure if she's dead or what, and she's not curious, really. She never asks. She has a lot of freedom to go where she pleases and she's really intelligent (having to pretend to finish her tests second because she's tired of being the one on top, the class pet, etc.) yet she never goes to the library to read up, perhaps, on what happened to her mother (and again, she doesn't ask anyone in her family, either). This is maddening, and I can't believe for a minute that such a person would exist, so how could I love a book with characters like that?
The magical realism aspect was annoying rather than magical, especially since there's this magical ability for Natasha to learn about her mom, her first wish. But instead, she shows typical tween characteristics of moodiness and pushing away that which is good for her and pushes away the magic, denying it's existence despite two of her wishes coming true....everything about Natasha's character development contradicts itself. And the ending is absolutely ridiculous--frustrating, implausible (even if you believe in the magical part of it), and then answers none of your questions.
This may have been the worst book I've ever finished, and the fact that it's titled up there as "Wishing Day #1" does not forgive its ending. Most books in series leave you completely aware that the book ended at a climax and there's no doubt that there's a book 2, OR, the book stands alone and you may be surprised to find a book 2. This just fizzled out in the worst way. However, now that I think about it, Natasha had a hard time finishing her own stories and maybe the author chose to have Natasha not finish this one either? This technique, although worth a moment of praise to the author for a clever move like that, is not worth the overwhelming dissatisfaction the reader experiences.
If I had known what book I was reading, (honest mistake if you see the covers of both books), I'd have seen the poor reviews of this one compared to the one I thought I was reading, so sadly, I wasted 6 hours.
The good news is, I'm an adult, and hopefully this book touches the lives of children in a way that I won't understand, so as always, my review is a narrative of my experience and not a judgement on the book's worth.
The magical realism aspect was annoying rather than magical, especially since there's this magical ability for Natasha to learn about her mom, her first wish. But instead, she shows typical tween characteristics of moodiness and pushing away that which is good for her and pushes away the magic, denying it's existence despite two of her wishes coming true....everything about Natasha's character development contradicts itself. And the ending is absolutely ridiculous--frustrating, implausible (even if you believe in the magical part of it), and then answers none of your questions.
This may have been the worst book I've ever finished, and the fact that it's titled up there as "Wishing Day #1" does not forgive its ending. Most books in series leave you completely aware that the book ended at a climax and there's no doubt that there's a book 2, OR, the book stands alone and you may be surprised to find a book 2. This just fizzled out in the worst way. However, now that I think about it, Natasha had a hard time finishing her own stories and maybe the author chose to have Natasha not finish this one either? This technique, although worth a moment of praise to the author for a clever move like that, is not worth the overwhelming dissatisfaction the reader experiences.
If I had known what book I was reading, (honest mistake if you see the covers of both books), I'd have seen the poor reviews of this one compared to the one I thought I was reading, so sadly, I wasted 6 hours.
The good news is, I'm an adult, and hopefully this book touches the lives of children in a way that I won't understand, so as always, my review is a narrative of my experience and not a judgement on the book's worth.