WARNING: This review contains spoilers
I had read Wish when I was in middle school, and frankly I didn’t remember much about it except the fact that it made me cry.
And I had the opportunity to read it again. So I did.
I saw this book in a much different light, and I was able to understand other concepts and Charlie’s story deeply now that I am older.
This book explores profound topics that many people can relate to in some way; however, it is narrated from the perspective of an eleven-year-old girl, Charlie Reese. This allows readers to step into a child-like brain going through these situations.
Charlie Reese has been making the same wish since fourth grade. She has been sent away from her broken family and sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle.
Charlie Reese’s mother is an alcoholic, and her father is in jail. However, Charlie, being as young as she is, doesn’t realize that the “soda cans” on her mother’s nightstand are actually empty beer cans and bottles of alcohol. And her father, “Scrappy”, is in Jail for constantly getting into fights and violence. However, Charlie sees it as “his fondness for fighting”.
And her sister, Jackie, is also being taken out of her parents’ custody for the time being. Jackie and Charlie are separated as well because of their ages. Jackie is eighteen and about to graduate, while Charlie is eleven. So Jackie gets to stay with Carol Lee, a close friend of Jackie, which Charlie sees as unfair.
Child Protective Services sends her to live with her Aunt and Uncle until her mom can “get back on her feet”. However, Charlie doesn’t understand the situation. She doesn’t understand what people mean by her mother needing to “get back on her feet”.
While staying with her Aunt and Uncle, she meets this cast-out young boy named Howard Odom, who has a limp in his walk. She calls his walk “up down up down” by the way his body bobs up and down when he walks.
She feels like she doesn’t belong. Not with her broken family, and not with Bertha or Gus because she doesn’t even know them, and they are too nice. She desperately longs for someone to understand her.
This is something that many readers both young and old can understand, wanting to feel as they belong and needing to find a place where they are needed. Where they are loved.
And a skinny stray dog enters the story, whom Charlie decides to name Wishbone. She decides to care for it, for Wishbone is one of the only beings in her life that listens to her, and one that she feels cares and loves for her.
Over time, she gets accustomed to Bertha and Gus’ gentle love and care, even after feeling overwhelmed by their kindness. She even becomes good friends with Howard Odom, even after having made fun of him and having gotten into a fight with him.
Child Protective Services deems that her mother has not gotten and her feet and will not be able to provide and take care of Charlie, and her father is still in jail. He will also not be a suitable caretaker for Charlie. So it is decided that Charlie will stay with Gus and Bertha.
And finally, finally, Charlie has the wish she had been wishing for since 4th grade.
Charlie finally has a family. A real family. A non-broken family.
Age Range
I personally believe this book is suitable for 4th graders and up. This book contains very slight mentions of alcohol abuse.
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