A Comb of Wishes

A Comb of Wishes
Author: Lisa Stringfellow
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2022-02-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0063043459

Set against the backdrop of Caribbean folklore, Lisa Stringfellow’s spellbinding middle grade debut tells of a grieving girl and a vengeful mermaid and will enchant readers who loved Kacen Callender’s Hurricane Child or Christian McKay Heidicker’s Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Ever since her mother’s death, Kela feels every bit as broken as the shards of glass, known as “mermaid’s tears,” that sparkle on the Caribbean beaches of St. Rita. So when Kela and her friend Lissy stumble across an ancient-looking comb in a coral cave, with all she’s already lost, Kela can’t help but bring home her very own found treasure. Far away, deep in the cold ocean, the mermaid Ophidia can feel that her comb has been taken. And despite her hatred of all humans, her magic requires that she make a bargain: the comb in exchange for a wish. But what Kela wants most is for her mother to be alive. And a wish that big will exact an even bigger price… Don’t miss the novel that Newbery-winning author Kelly Barnhill calls “one of the most promising works of fiction in a long time”!

The Teeth of the Comb & Other Stories

The Teeth of the Comb & Other Stories
Author: Osama Alomar
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2017-04-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0811225836

Wonderful short stories that sharpen awareness, from a brilliantly gifted Syrian refugee Personified animals (snakes, wolves, sheep), natural things (a swamp, a lake, a rainbow, trees), mankind’s creations (trucks, swords, zeroes) are all characters in The Teeth of the Comb. They aspire, they plot, they hope, they destroy, they fail, they love. These wonderful small stories animate new realities and make us see our reality anew. Reading Alomar’s sly moral fables and sharp political allegories, the reader always sits up a little straighter, and a little wiser. Here is the title story: Some of the teeth of the comb were envious of the class differences that exist between humans. They strived desperately to increase their height, and, when they succeeded, began to look with disdain on their colleagues below. After a little while the comb’s owner felt a desire to comb his hair. But when he found the comb in this state he threw it in the garbage.

Mermaid Wishes

Mermaid Wishes
Author: Carol Barton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Children's stories
ISBN: 9780439951005

In the faraway land of Zavania, Seraphina the mermaid is in terrible danger - her enchanted comb had been stolen and without it, she will die. She has wished for it back - but who will help her?

Josephine Against the Sea

Josephine Against the Sea
Author: Shakirah Bourne
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1338642111

Meet Josephine, the most loveable mischief-maker in Barbados, in a magical, heartfelt adventure inspired by Caribbean mythology. * “A heart-wrenching adventure with big laughs and well-earned surprises.” –Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review Eleven-year-old Josephine knows that no one is good enough for her daddy. That's why she makes a habit of scaring his new girlfriends away. She's desperate to make it onto her school's cricket team because she'll get to play her favorite sport AND use the cricket matches to distract Daddy from dating. But when Coach Broomes announces that girls can't try out for the team, the frustrated Josephine cuts into a powerful silk cotton tree and accidentally summons a bigger problem into her life . . . The next day, Daddy brings home a new catch, a beautiful woman named Mariss. And unlike the other girlfriends, this one doesn't scare easily. Josephine knows there's something fishy about Mariss but she never expected her to be a vengeful sea creature eager to take her place as her father's first love! Can Josephine convince her friends to help her and use her cricket skills to save Daddy from Mariss's clutches before it's too late?

Pookins Gets Her Way

Pookins Gets Her Way
Author: Helen Lester
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2015
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0544324064

Pookins always manages to get her way until the day she meets a gnome who can grant her every wish.

Of Metal and Wishes

Of Metal and Wishes
Author: Sarah Fine
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2014-08-05
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1442483601

This love story for the ages, set in a reimagined industrial Asia, is a little dark, a bit breathless, and completely compelling. A “grisly and satisfying” tale (Publishers Weekly) inspired by The Phantom of the Opera. Sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic, housed in a slaughterhouse staffed by the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor. Wen often hears the whisper of a ghost in the slaughterhouse, a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. And after one of the Noor humiliates Wen, the ghost grants an impulsive wish of hers—brutally. Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including the outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the ghost. As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen is torn between her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. Will she determine whom to trust before the factory explodes, taking her down with it?

The Counterclockwise Heart

The Counterclockwise Heart
Author: Brian Farrey
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2022-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1616205067

"A prince and a mage must untangle the riddles from their shared past to save the future of the empire-or risk seeing everything they both both love destroyed"--

When Winter Robeson Came

When Winter Robeson Came
Author: Brenda Woods
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2022-01-11
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1524741590

The whole world seems to transform during the summer of 1965, when Eden’s cousin from Mississippi comes to visit her in L.A. just as the Watts Riots erupt, in this stirring new novel by Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods. When Eden’s cousin Winter comes for a visit, it turns out he’s not just there to sightsee. He wants to figure out what happened to his dad, who disappeared ten years earlier from the Watts area of L.A. So the cousins set out to investigate together, and what they discover brings them joy—and heartache. It also opens up a whole new understanding of their world, just as the area they’ve got their sights on explodes in a clash between the police and the Black residents. For six days Watts is like a war zone, and Eden and Winter become heroes in their own part of the drama. Eden hopes to be a composer someday, and the only way she can describe that summer is a song with an unexpected ending, full of changes in tempo and mood--totally unforgettable.

To Marry and to Meddle

To Marry and to Meddle
Author: Martha Waters
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1982190493

“Sure to delight Bridgerton fans.” —USA TODAY The “sweet, sexy, and utterly fun” (Emily Henry, author of People We Meet on Vacation) Regency Vows series continues with a witty, charming, and joyful novel following a seasoned debutante and a rakish theater owner as they navigate a complicated marriage of convenience. Lady Emily Turner has been a debutante for six seasons now and should have long settled into a suitable marriage. However, due to her father’s large debts, her only suitor is the persistent and odious owner of her father’s favorite gambling house. Meanwhile, Lord Julian Belfry, the second son of a marquess, has scandalized society as an actor and owner of a theater—the kind of establishment where men take their mistresses, but not their wives. When their lives intersect at a house party, Lord Julian hatches a plan to benefit them both. With a marriage of convenience, Emily will use her society connections to promote the theater to a more respectable clientele and Julian will take her out from under the shadows of her father’s unsavory associates. But they soon realize they have very different plans for their marriage—Julian wants Emily to remain a society wife, while Emily discovers an interest in the theater. But when a fleeing actress, murderous kitten, and meddlesome friends enter the fray, Emily and Julian will have to confront the fact that their marriage of convenience comes with rather inconvenient feelings. With “an arch sense of humor and a marvelously witty voice that rivals the best of the Regency authors” (Entertainment Weekly), Martha Waters crafts another fresh romantic comedy that for fans of Julia Quinn and Evie Dunmore.

Wish

Wish
Author: Barbara O'Connor
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2016-08-30
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0374302731

From award-winning author Barbara O'Connor comes a middle-grade novel about a girl who, with the help of the dog of her dreams, discovers the true meaning of family.