The Wonderful Wishes of B.
by Katherin Nolte (Author)
All that stands between ten-year-old Beatrice and an amazing life are five wishes...and she's got a plan to make them all come true! A magical and heartfelt adventure about grief, hope, and the power of human connection.
Beatrice Corwell has a crooked haircut, eight well-trained cats, and a plan: she's turning herself into a Tin Man. Once her heart is made of metal, she'll no longer miss her beloved dead grandma, her absent dad, or her recently moved-away best friend. While Beatrice awaits her transformation, she keeps vigil with a special doll and a handful of wishes she's determined to make come true.
With her encyclopedic knowledge, there must be a way to grant her heart's deepest desires. When an unusual boy named Caleb moves to town and mentions his granny's interest in magic, Beatrice decides to enlist their help. She quickly learns, however, that spells don't always go as planned, and witches can't be trusted. With the arrival of an unexpected visitor and a series of otherworldly messages, Beatrice's plans begin to falter. Will her heart turn into metal? Will any of her wishes come true?
The Wonderful Wishes of B. is the story of a smart, quirky girl learning what she wants and what she needs--and how, sometimes, the wishes we hold dearest are granted in the most unexpected ways.
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Kirkus
A pleasant and lightly fantastical story that will satisfy twee tastes.
Publishers Weekly
A grieving 10-year-old living in small-town Ohio plans to say "Goodbye, heart. Hello, Tin Man," in this quirky story about loss by Nolte (Back to the Bright Before). Since her grandmother's death, Beatrice Corwell's ambition has been to stop feeling--not just grief, but any emotion at all. Project Tin Man hasn't gotten very far: she's still grieving her grandmother, she's irritated by newcomer Caleb, she's hopeful that her absent father will come to town for his annual visit, she loves her eight rescue cats, and she yearns for her doll to come to life. When she realizes that her grandmother has somehow found a way to leave her messages--one word a time--and learns that Caleb's granny is a witch, she enlists Caleb's help in bringing her many desires to fruition. Lightly magical touches (Beatrice can seemingly communicate with her cats, who have a dance routine) and the inclusion of kind, indulgent neighbors (they let Beatrice's mother cut their hair, even though she's awful at it) make for a whimsical and touching story about connection, grief, and learning to understand and live with one's feelings. Main characters read as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (June)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Review quotes
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
Death
Grandmothers
Magic
Fantasy fiction
Grief
Wishes
Novels
Magic realist fiction
