Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I finished listening to Gail Carson Levine’s The Wish today, and I have to say–my 8th grade self would have adored it. I was never one of the popular kids, and the thought of wishing to be popular and then riding high on the results would definitely have appealed. (As an adult, I find myself wanting to assign a college essay comparing and contrasting The Wish with “The Mirror Has Two Faces”–and as a parent, I recognize that just because an 8th grader dreams of kissing a doting boyfriend for an hour doesn’t mean that it’s age-appropriate behavior or at all a good idea.) Ultimately, this feels pitch perfect for that 8th grade self–Wilma experiences popularity, gets her pick of boys, and doesn’t become a jerk because of it. (Points to her for recognizing which boy is worth getting, by the way.) The Wish is accessibly rather than beautifully written, and while the brevity of the timeline doesn’t allow us to get to know most of the characters too deeply, the themes explored are meaningful and completely relevant to the age and stage of life of both those characters and the intended audience. I’m passing this along to my 7th grader with high hopes that it will help shake her out of her reading rut!