“The many ways to make a wish wherever home may be” come in for lighthearted yet respectful exploration in this attractive square-format book. Thong (Red Is a Dragon
) entices readers with consistently well-rhymed verses (“We puff on dandelions/ with their fluff as white as milk—/ our wishes sail through the breeze/ on parachutes of silk”), following up each with a brief description of a national custom. Some may be familiar—throwing coins into Rome's Trevi Fountain or offering prayers at Jerusalem's Western Wall—but many will be new to most readers: in India children make secret wishes on peacock feathers and save them in notebooks or diaries. Rendered in Kleven's (The Paper Princess
) kaleidoscopic style, many of the full-bleed spreads nearly shimmer, as in the picture of Brazilian children jumping waves on New Year's Day. The book ends with a multiethnic group of American children blowing out birthday cake candles, inviting readers to look at their own practices from a newly broadened perspective. Endnotes include more information along with an invitation to find 15 lucky symbols hidden in the pictures. Ages 5–9. (Nov.)
