The Wish Sisters: The Christmas wish by Allison Rushby. Illus. by Karen Blair

A charming, festive addition to the comical, illustrated series written for newly independent readers. For Flick and Birdie this is an emotional time as it is their first Christmas without their Granny Aggie, who always made Christmas so special for everyone. Looking at her long, sad face Flick’s mother suggests making Gingerbread houses using Granny’s recipe and soon invitations to help go to their lonely neighbours Mrs Mortlock and Mr Tran.  Unfortunately, Mrs Mortlock and Mr Tran don’t know about Birdie’s wishing powers and through the story there are some entertaining, near-miss moments where Flick needs to think quickly to keep it that way. A ginger plant forest, purple ornaments on the Xmas tree thanks to the naughty Imp, a sudden snowstorm and gingerbread people that come alive are just a few of the things that make this book so amusing for these younger readers.  A helpful, double page spread at the beginning of the book introduces the Wish sisters and explains the details of how they came to be able to make wishes.

Themes: Christmas, Wishes, Siblings.

Gabrielle Anderson