Rose and the Wish Thing: A Journey of Friendship

K-Gr 2—Rose feels alone in a new town, and her yearning for companionship calls out to, or possibly manifests, a rabbitlike "wish thing" who lives far away in a cardboard box. Both trek toward each other—the wish thing through mountain tops and across the sky in a makeshift parachute, and Rose searching around the city with her supportive family members. The sense that an internal and emotional expedition is happening simultaneously is also clear, making the climax of Rose finding the wish thing and plucking him from the sea all the more satisfying. The book was originally published in Australia, and the universal emotions of loneliness, longing, and ultimately joy at finding a new friend are conveyed through the beautifully combined line and wash illustrations and the lyrical prose ("She took the wish thing home…by cardigan. It was made with tiny stitches, and inside was a red glass heart for finding things small and far away…. Or just outside the window").