One girls summer of found friendship, a magical wish jar and finding true self. Ash is prepared for a great summer until her mom throws a wrench into her plans. Ash finds out that the best laid plans do not always turn out as we expect. Things can be so much better. I loved the addition of the wish jar and how it brought Ash into the past. A good story for female young readers. This story should stay with them for quite a while. ( )

Ashley expected this to be a fun summer until several things happened in short order. Her best friend, Lucy will be moving away before school begins. That would be bad enough, but the time at camp she expected to spend with her friend is cut to only one week because her parents agreed to look after seven year old Claire whose mother died under strange circumstances. The little girl's dad needs time to regroup and Ashley's mother was friends with Claire's mom.
Ashley's also distressed because Lucy has functioned as her filter with the world because she has Prosopagnosia, a condition that makes her "face blind," (she is unable to recognize people she knows when she sees them). When Claire arrives, she turns out to be a ball of fire, loud, enthusiastic and possessing a list of things she wants to do while staying with Ashley and her parents.
At first, Ashley's angry at having her summer turned upside down and resentful of Claire for the amount of time the little girl demands, but Claire grows on her, leading Ashley to discover things about herself that are pretty cool, like how she feels when she teaches Claire to swim and ride a bike. At the same time, she's also found a mysterious jar filled with wishes written on slips of paper in the basement. When she's sitting in one particular chair and reads a wish, she's transported back to the day the event related to the wish took place Two girls, Ashley and Shue, have become friends at the beginning of one summer in the past. The more wishes Ashley reads/experiences, the greater her curiousity becomes regarding who these girls were and what happened between them.
Following Ashley as she realizes the girls who created the wishes have a connection to a couple involved with the nursing home where she and Claire help out, her growing fondness for Claire and her friendship with Sam, a boy who helps at the nursing home, coupled with some dandy surprises at the end, make this a great read for juveniles. ( )

I was concerned at the beginning of this book, how was all this going to tie in together? The wishes, Claire, both moms? The ending was fantastic! I had tears, just like Ashley did. This is an excellent book for 4th-8th graders, or for moms to read to their younger daughters. ( )