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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Sep 2005, 368 pages
Paperback:
Jan 2008, 368 pages
The story of a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they should live it, seen mainly from the point of view of 14-year-old Debbie who wishes something would happen to make her a different person and Hector who feels he is unfinished. Winner of the 2006 Newbery Medal.
She wished
something
would happen.
Something good.
To her.
Looking at the bright, fuzzy picture in the
magazine, she thought, Something like that.
Checking her wish
for loopholes,
she found one.
Hoping it wasn't
too late, she thought
the word soon.
Winner of the 2006 Newbery Medal.
Chapter One
The Catch
She wished something would happen.
She wished it while she was looking at a magazine.
The magazine was her sister Chrisanne's; so was the bed she was sitting
on and the sweater Debbie had decided to borrow after coming into
Chrisanne's room to use her lip gloss. Chrisanne wasn't there. She had gone
off somewhere.
Thinking she should be more specific in case her wish came true, even
though it wasn't an official wish, it was just a thought, Debbie thought, I
wish something different would happen. Something good. To me.
As she thought it, she wound her finger in the necklace she was wearing,
which was her own, then unwound it again. It was a short necklace, and she
could only wrap her finger in it twice. At least while it was still around
her neck.
The article she was looking at was about how the most important thing was
to be yourself. Although the pictures...
The John Newbery Medal
2006
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