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Booktalking Colorado Full Record:
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Title: |
If I Had One Wish |
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Author: |
Koller, Jackie French |
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Date Published: |
1991 |
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Genre: |
Fantasy |
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Grade Level: |
5 - 8 |
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Booktalker: |
Bonnie Phinney |
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Booktalk:
If you had one wish, what would you wish for?
It's two weeks before Christmas and Alec is really mad that he has to take his 6-year-old brother, Stevie, along with him to the mall. He only intends to leave him alone for 5 minutes in the arcade while he and his friends talk to some girls. But in their haste, his friends bump into an old bag lady, spilling the contents of her bag all over the floor. No one stops to help, except Alec, who feels sorry for her. In appreciation, the old woman gives Alec a mysterious coin and tells him it will grant him any wish. "Use it with care," she cautions, "use it with care." Alec promptly forgets about Stevie, and the old lady, when he meets up again with his friends.
Now Alec's really in trouble. His parents are already mad at him for skipping basketball practice and losing his report card. The next morning, Stevie, in a fit of anger, tells his parents what Alec did at the mall (despite the hush money Alec paid him). His parents promptly ground Alec until New Years and he is fit to be tied. He bounds up the stairs into his room and slams the door. Kicking his jeans, lying in the middle of the floor, the funny coin falls out. He picks it up and squeezes it in his hand. If only his stupid little brother had never been born, he wishes.
Have any of you ever wished your brother or sister had never been born? Be careful what you wish for!
When Alec goes downstairs later, for lunch, everything has changed. His wish has come true. His little brother has never been born and when he keeps asking about him, his family thinks he's nuts. Come to think of it, his family is nuts! Without Stevie, his family has changed in ways Alec can't understand. His dad is no longer interested in his basketball games and his mom is too busy being a lawyer to have time for the family. Of course, Alec rather likes the hot car his dad drives and the condo in the mountains. But, there's no Stevie wanting to spend time with his big brother, no Stevie with his never ending Christmas list, no Stevie too excited to sleep on Christmas Eve.
If only Alec could figure out a way to find that old bag lady and reverse his wish …
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