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Reviewer: Kirby B. '12

After 14-year-old Wilma gives up her seat to an old woman on the train, she becomes the most popular girl in her school. The old woman on the train offers Wilma a wish after Wilma gives up her seat. Suddenly, Wilma has over forty dates to the Grad Night Dance and many new friends including the popular girls:Bee Bee, Ardis, and Nina. Why, she even has a secret admirer! Wilma falls in love with the least most popular boy in school, Jared. Will Wilma and Jared stay together after he knows the truth about the wish? Does Jared already like Wilma before she is granted the wish? Will Wilma be popular forever? Find out if you read this book!

Spring 2005

Find out more about 8th grader Wilma and how her popularity might not last for as long as she would like.
I recommend this Gail Carson Levine book to fantasy lovers, dreamers and  all of you who like a few laughs.

Fall 2002

How would you like to be in eighth grade and feel unnoticed?   Your best friends have moved away and all you want to be is in the most popular clique.  Wilma Sturtz feels this way.  If she had one wish, it would be to be accepted in that group.  One day while Wilma was riding on the subway an old lady grants her the wish.  The next day, Wilma has more friends than she knows what to do with.  But when it seems to be too good to be true, she finds out that her popularity might not last forever.

I would recommend this book to girls because it's about what some girls go through as they are growing up.

Fall 2002

A girl named Wilma is granted a wish.  But when she thinks everything is going well, she finds out that she makes a mistake in her wish.  She realizes that her wish to be popular for the rest of the school year might not stay forever because there are only two weeks left of school.  After the wish is over she finds out that it is going to be hard to keep all the friends she makes when she is popular.  She is afraid that her friendships will not continue, so she has to find a way to keep her friends before it is too late and life goes back to normal.  I think this is a very good book.  It teaches a lot about friendship and that it doesn't really matter if you are popular.  All that matters is that you have good friends who care about you and like you for the person you are.

Spring 2002

Wilma is an eighth grader who has never been popular.  This year she won't have any friends because her only two friends move away to go to a boarding school.  Wilma really wants to be popular, but she doubts she's cool enough.  One day she meets an old lady on the subway and gives her seat to her.  The old lady gives Wilma one wish.  She wishes that she can be the most popular kid at Claverford Middle School.  Her wish comes true and she gets to hang with the popular kids.  But then Wilma realizes she will be leaving Claverford very soon because she's an eighth grader.  Will Wilma be liked for who she is at her new school?

Winter 2002

Wilma is miserable.  She is unpopular at her school, Claverford, and her two friends move away.  Then one day on the way to school she offers an old lady her seat on the subway.  This old woman isn't just any normal person. She is magical and offers Wilma a wish. Wilma wishes to be the most popular girl at Claverford.

Well, you can probably guess what happens. She becomes the most popular girl at school and she has a ton of friends.  And she has a boyfriend she loves, even though he isn't popular.  He admits he liked her even before she became popular.

Later, Wilma figures out she will not be popular forever! She'll be graduating in a few weeks and going to Elliott High School.  Will Wilma still be popular after graduation?  Read this great book to find out.

Winter 2002

The Wish is about a girl named Wilma who is in eighth grade. She has two best friends, but one of them has to move and the other one's parents get angry with the school, so they send her to a boarding school.  Now she doesn't have any friends,  but at least people will let her sit with them at lunch.

Everything is okay until her teacher tells the class to write about what they wish they could be in a secret life.  Wilma writes about a day when she becomes her dog. Wilma hands it in, but is mortified when her teacher decides to read it aloud in front of her whole class. Wilma has written about some embarrassing things and in the story her dog refers to her as "beautiful, beloved Wilma." Now people tease her and call her beloved Wilma or bark at her when she passes in the hall.

Then one day Wilma is on the subway on the way to school and offers her seat to an old woman. The woman sits down and tells her that it is very kind of her, so she will grant her one wish. Wilma wishes to be the most popular person at Claverford.  The woman asks Wilma if it's a wise choice and Wilma nods.

When she gets to school everyone is really nice to her. That day she gets tons of love notes and notes from girls in her class wondering if she wants to come over. Wilma soon gets a boyfriend and is the most popular person at Claverford.  She is invited to a sleepover with the three most popular girls and has a great time.

I really liked The Wish.   If you want to know if Wilma stays popular even when she goes to Elliot High School, you'll have to read the book!

Winter 2002

Wilma Sturtz is one of the most unpopular kids in the 8th grade at Claverford Middle School.  She is always ignored and whenever she sees beautiful, elegant Ardis Lundy and her friends, BeeBee and Nina, she longs, even more, to be one of them... a popular kid. One rainy day Wilma is walking along the street to her usual bus stop when she sees a mysterious woman coming on the bus.  She decides to do a good deed for the feeble, old lady (since this stranger looks like she is about to keel over) and she gives the mysterious woman her seat on the bus.

Just as she is thinking that she should go sit somewhere else and go on with the dreary day, something magical happens. Wilma is granted one wish by the old lady (who is really a good witch) in gratitude for her tiny favor. To find out Wilma's wish and its effects, read The Wish.

Fall 2001