Wish * Barbara O'Connor

Sent to live with distant relatives in a rural Blue Ridge Mountain town after her unstable family fractures, an angry eleven-year-old girl makes the same secret wish every day until an unexpected friendship and a stray dog challenge her to open her heart.

The Story: Written by prominent children's literature author Barbara O'Connor, this deeply moving contemporary classic transforms personal emotional healing into a thoroughly accessible reading workspace. The narrative centers on Charlie Reese, a fiery young girl who has spent years building a strict defensive armor against disappointment. With a father in prison and an unstable mother unable to manage daily household logistics, Charlie's predictable parameters permanently fracture when social services intervene, relocating her to the small mountain town of Oakhaven, North Carolina.Charlie operates within a quiet, repetitive routine, making a secret wish on everything from shooting stars to dandelion seeds across her daily tracking lines. She initially rejects her kind new foster guardians, Aunt Bertha and Uncle Gus, assuming their rural lifestyle is a low-yield environment. Her emotional trajectory hits a highly volatile boundary when she encounters a scruffy, spirited stray dog she names Wishbone. Catching and taming the animal becomes her ultimate personal counter-campaign, unpeeling her tough outer shell.Joined by her enthusiastic next-door neighbor, Howard—a boy who teaches her how to navigate the social metrics of her new school grid—Charlie learns the true meaning of a supportive alliance. Rather than delivering a simple story of hardship, the text uses short, punchy fragments to outline how unconditional love functions as an active psychological protective shield. Published by Square Fish or Farrar, Straus and Giroux, this award-winning paperback functions as an invaluable educational tool. It teaches developing minds the absolute logistics of empathy and belonging, helping young characters turn an uncertain timeline into a permanent, loving sanctuary of family.

Perfect For: Young readers aged 8 to 12 navigating complex family changes, blending into new environments, or coping with behavioral challenges; parents and educators looking for high-interest, emotionally rich Southern literature for read-aloud circles; and children's book libraries archiving contemporary, bestselling middle-grade masterpieces.

Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Grades 3-6 (2019), Vermont Golden Dome Book Award Nominee (2018), Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (2019), Bluestem Book Award (2019), Maud Hart Lovelace Award for Grades 3–5 (2020).

First published 2016, This is the First Square Fish Edition, 2017.