Wish

Thirteen-year-old Soli and her best friend Lucy are opposites, but they are also inseparable until Lucy betrays Soli by kissing her crush, Jaleel. After Soli wishes Lucy away in Willow Forest, Lucy is magically transported to the enchanted land of Faerieground. In the clutches of Queen Calandra, Lucy serves as bait to reel in Soli, who Calandra wants for her own mysterious purposes. With the help of Lucy’s mother—who knows Faerie-ground’s history—and one of Calandra’s prisoners, Soli embarks on a quest to save her friend. The short chapters alternate between Soli and Lucy, with Soli narrating in a kind of dreamlike blank verse, and Lucy in more conventional prose. The girls’ individuality and desire for independence evolve over the four stories in this book (which were published separately in 2012). First in the planned Faerieground series, Bracken and Fraser’s novel gets a boost of emotional and visual depth from Sawyer’s lush full-color illustrations; although her figures can be wooden, the artwork gives the story a strong sense of atmosphere, in both the human and faerie realms. Ages 10–14. (Apr.)