The town is Coven Tree located in New England. At the church social is a ragged tent with a little sign in front that says "Thaddeus Blinn - I can give you whatever you ask for only 50 cents." The town's store keeper is Stewart Meade, but everyone calls him "Stew Meat." Stew Meat, who is the teller of the story, is lured into the tent by the funny little man who is standing outside the tent. Stew Meat is especially surprised that the little man calls him by name. Inside are only three others - eleven-year-old Polly Kemp, fifteen-year-old Rowena Jervis, and sixteen-year-old Adam Fiske. The little man is clearly disappointed that he has no other customers, but he begins his spiel. "I'm selling wishes. Anything you want -anything you could possibly imagine - can be yours! But first, I must have my fee. Fifty cents from each of you, if you please." Reluctantly, all four came up with the coins. In turn, each of them was given a small white card with a red spot on it.

Thaddeus Blinn then told the four that they would be rewarded for their trust in him. They had only to press their thumb against the red spot on the card as they stated their wish. One wish only would be granted. He cautioned them to take their time and give it plenty of thought. The wish would be granted exactly as they asked for it. While they were still unbelieving and complaining about being cheated, he ushered them out of the tent.

The three young people all had what they considered an important wish. Polly wanted to be liked, especially by the two popular rich girls in town. Rowena wanted to be liked by Henry Piper, the traveling farm machinery salesman. Adam wanted the family farm to be covered in water so he could quit hauling water from a distance. All three made their wishes. All of their wishes were granted, but with disastrous consequences. Their too quick wording of their wishes had double meanings. Now, lives were being ruined. Thaddeus Blinn, the wish giver, had disappeared. How could their wishes be reversed?

The story has a happy ending. Maybe you have already figured out how the wishes were reversed. However, you need to read "The Wish Giver" by Bill Brittan to be certain.

 

A boy uses verse to tell of events in his life

Jack is a middle grader who tells about events in his life by writing about them in verse. He drops a lot of big words in his writing like similes and metaphors, alliteration and onomatopoeia, and assonance and consonance. Actually, he is making fun of teachers who use these big words. He goes on to show through his verse that you need to demonstrate what it is that these words stand for by actually using them. Jack begins by writing about his dog Sky - "my funny, furry smiling dog Sky." Sky was no longer around but Jack really missed him. He didn't like a mean fat cat that hung around the neighborhood and it seemed the cat didn't particularly like Jack.

His dislike of cats began to diminish when someone brought kittens to school. His memories of Sky made him say, however, that he liked dogs better. Those kittens, though, were "fantastically funny the way they were skittering around and purrrrrrrrrrring."

As Jack begins to write more verse, he starts to write poems inspired by some of his favorite poets. These include Walter Dean Myers, William Carlos Williams, Edgar Allan Poe, Valerie Worth, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and T. S. Elliot. These were poets whose works his teacher had shared in class. Jack tried to write like these established poets as he searched for his own poetic voice. By the end of his story, Jack has even come to write positive verse about the cat that he started out hating.

'Hate That Cat" by Sharon Creech obviously is an unusual novel in that it is told all in verse. As Jack tells his story, we can see him develop his own powers as a versifier. Creech follows up with another book of verse titled "Love That Dog." A young reader who likes to read verse and wants to develop his or her own skills will enjoy both little books.

 

A Cuban immigrant boy who loves baseball becomes batboy for a pro team

Felix Piloto was in middle school in Florida. He lived with his mother who worked long hours at her job. She was saving to buy a house for them to live in. They had escaped by boat from Cuba when Felix was an infant. Felix knew his father had been a baseball star in Cuba but had to stay behind after helping his wife and son escape. Felix hoped at some point his father could join them in Florida, but his mother refused to talk about it.

Felix was small, but a good baseball player. He loved the game and could bunt and field pretty good. He wasn't big enough and strong enough to be a power hitter though. The trouble was his mother was so strict and just wouldn't let him go to see the local professional team, the Egrets. She never even made it to see Felix play.

Felix entered a radio give-away contest and won free tickets to an Egrets' game. Still, his mother would only let him go if he went with Maryann Lester, his teen-aged babysitter. How embarrassing! Maryanne didn't like baseball and, besides, she bossed him around. But if he wanted to go, he had to go with her.

Felix just slips away from Maryann at the game, and goes into the team's locker room. He realizes that the players think he is the new bat boy, so he goes along with their directions. Later, he hides on the team bus and travels with then to the next town. Because Felix speaks Spanish, he is able to talk to the Cuban players on the team. The team wins the game after having lost several games in a row. Felix is seen as bringing good luck. So he decides to go along with the disguise and try to find out more about his father from the Cuban players.

Felix especially liked the team's mascot - a dog named Homer who was good at fielding baseballs. It turns out the team manager figured out who Felix really was and made him contact his mother. Between Felix, the manager, and the team's owner, they convinced Felix's mother to become the bookkeeper for the team. Felix and his mom even ended up with a house to live in. You need to read "Free Baseball" by Sue Corbett to find out what Felix learned about his father.