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Summary
Summary
A dying girl gives a boy the strength to live in this lyrical novel that will break your heart and lift your spirit
Peter Stone's parents and siblings are extroverts, musicians, and yellers-and the louder they get, the less Peter talks, or even moves, until he practically fits his last name. When his family moves to the Texas Hill Country, though, Peter finds a tranquil, natural valley where he can, at last, hear himself think.
There, he meets a girl his age- Annie Blythe. Annie tells Peter she's a "wish girl." But Annie isn't just any wish girl; she's a "Make-A-Wish Girl."And in two weeks she will begin a dangerous treatment to try and stop her cancer from spreading. Left alone, the disease will kill her. But the treatment may cause serious, lasting damage to her brain.
Annie and Peter hatch a plan to escape into the valley, which they begin to think is magical. But the pair soon discovers that the valley-and life-may have other plans for them. And sometimes wishes come true in ways they would never expect.
Reviews (5)
Horn Book Review
A magical valley ignites an unlikely friendship between two lonely children: Peter, who's sinking amidst a difficult home life and bullies; and Annie, a free-spirited, headstrong artist with leukemia. The tranquil, gorgeous Texas hill country valley is its own rich character in this thoughtfully composed story of a transforming friendship between two people struggling to make their voices heard. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Peter's family is fracturing. They've moved to rural Texas from their home in San Antonio, and now Peter's dad is unemployed, his parents are fighting, his older sister is miserable, and his baby sister is neglected. For Peter, 12 years old and quietly unhappy, the tension is too much, and he often escapes to a nearby valley to be alone with his thoughts. It's there that he meets Annie, a spirited artist who calls herself a Wish Girl by which she means Make-a-Wish Girl, about to start a cancer treatment that may leave her a shell of herself. Both desperate to escape their overburdened lives, they hatch a plan to run away into the valley, which they feel will protect them. Both Peter and Annie seem older than 12, and some of their experiences take a sharp turn into the melodramatic. But the frank approach to Peter's thoughts of suicide and self-harm, tempered by a light touch of magic realism, makes this a deftly handled addition to the canon of kids struggling with illness.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2015 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
"THE HONEST TRUTH," a debut novel by Dan Gemeinhart, and "Wish Girl," by Nikki Loftin, both involve kids trying to escape cancer treatment. Each novel features a main character who gets beaten up by other kids and an intense friendship between a boy and a girl. In both books we see children keeping secrets from adults, running away from home and facing nature with little preparation. What should you do when you see what may be your last chance - a potentially dangerous one - to defy your cancer and live the way you want? In these books the characters take that risk. Yet somehow they're entirely different stories, "The Honest Truth" an adventure yarn about a boy and his dog, "Wish Girl" a quietly poetic story about psychological truths. Gemeinhart's tale opens with 12-year-old Mark at his front door, having decided to run away from home to avoid more chemotherapy. He lives in Washington State and he's on his way to climb Mount Rainier, though he has never climbed a mountain before. He believes this climb may be his last hurrah - he'll die on the mountain. Traveling with him is his small, extremely trusting dog, Beau, whom Mark expects to survive regardless of what happens to him. The only person who knows where Mark has gone is his best friend, a girl named Jessie. The story is told in chapters alternating between Mark's and Jessie's points of view, with the Jessie chapters letting the reader know what is happening on the home front and highlighting Jessie's own internal struggle: Should she reveal where Mark has gone? The Mark chapters brim with action. He runs into trouble early on, when a band of teenagers beat and rob him. But he manages to continue his journey despite inclement weather and news reports about his running away. He sneaks onto a bus, almost drowns in a river, gets a ride from a kind stranger. The love between boy and dog is palpable throughout and helps power the narrative forward. In fact, some of the most heart-thumping moments in this page turner involve Beau and the transformational love Mark feels for his dog. "The Honest Truth" is about nothing less than life and death, and choosing between them when life means a new round of cancer treatments. IN "WISH GIRL," 12-year-old Peter is a quiet boy in a loud family. He has never fit in, at home or at school. His parents have moved to the Texas Hill Country because Peter, who was being bullied in their big-city neighborhood, wrote in his journal about suicide, and his mother read it. But malevolent boys beat him up near his new home, and he worries that they may even hurt his family and Annie, a new friend, the first person who's ever understood him. She has leukemia and is soon to be subjected to medical treatment that may affect her to the point where, she fears, she'll be a shell of herself. She dreams of being an artist but worries that she won't "have enough brain left, probably, to make art." "Wish Girl" dips into a lovely sort of magic realism. Annie and Peter meet in a valley that has its own awareness - it senses good and bad in people, and it lends solace to innocents like these children as they try to escape their troubles. Annie is staying at a summer camp until she has to leave and begin the dreaded treatment - it's what her mother has decided. Peter, meanwhile, feels his family doesn't get what makes him him. The magic valley understands Annie and Peter, and it's where they decide to run away. But even a magic valley, it seems, can't change your life in all the ways you might want. In these books, happiness is elusive. "Life sucks," Mark says, "that's the truth. Here's what I don't get: Why does everyone always try to pretend that it doesn't?" Kids lie to grown-ups in these books; kids run away from their troubles. But they grow up, too. These novels' characters face large truths and have the courage not to flinch. They find that, during rough times, what looks like an escape can actually be the beginning of finding the right path - the path to life. CYNTHIA KADOHATA'S novels include "Kira-Kira," winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal, and "The Thing About Luck," winner of a National Book Award.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-In this companion to Nightingale's Nest (Razorbill, 2014), 12-year-old Peter Stone's new home in rural Texas is completely unlike his previous life in San Antonio. Even in the quiet of the country, his family is too loud. They never stop to understand sensitive, introverted Peter. The boy soon ventures into the valley and meets the infuriatingly fascinating Annie, a self-proclaimed "wish girl." He wonders if she might be magical, like the mysterious valley. However, what she really means is "Make-a-Wish girl": Annie has cancer. Weaving in elements of magical realism, this modern story combines light fantasy elements with the harsh reality of Peter's life, including some harrowing past experiences with bullies and a period of dark depression and thoughts of self-harm. The fears and dreams of the characters unfold as they make difficult, sometimes life-changing decisions. The valley is a character, too, mysteriously directing animals and plants to help friends or hinder foes. Peter's first-person perspective is outshined by descriptions of feisty Annie, who dreams of becoming a world famous artist. Through the creation of site-specific environmental pieces, Annie teaches Peter about the transformative power of art and ephemeral beauty. Other themes include bullying and the value of listening. Peter knows the names and habits of many geographically specific flora and fauna, though it's never fully explained why a city boy has such extensive knowledge of natural science. Nevertheless, this is an intensely compelling story. VERDICT This emotional story will be loved by fans of Nightingale's Nest, as the plot structure, atmosphere, and characters are similar.-Amy Seto Musser, Denver Public Library (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A sensitive boy with a troubled past and an artistic girl whose cache of wishes has almost expired find solace and friendship in a magical valley. Twelve-year-old Peter and his family have recently moved to rural Texas Hill Country to escape his issues with bullies in San Antonio. Peter's unemployed father urges him to "toughen up," while his resentful, overworked mother can't understand her withdrawn son. An outsider in a loud family that considers him a weirdo, Peter retreats to an isolated valley for solitude. Here he finds Annie, also 12, who's staying at a nearby camp. "[W]eird and bossy," Annie's passionate about art, and she and Peter bond in the valley's protective atmosphere. Annie calls herself a "wish girl," but Peter eventually realizes she's a Make-a-Wish kid whose leukemia has returned. When local bullies terrorize Peter, he opts to run away with Annie, who's avoiding more cancer treatment, but their escape's thwarted, and Peter's forced to speak out. As in Loftin's Nightingale's Nest (2014), the first-person narration in lyrical prose adds immediacy to Peter's and Annie's life-challenging situations as their transforming friendship plays out in a setting suffused with magical realism. A moving, mesmerizing story of wishing, listening and hope for discerning readers. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.