Wish Upon A Star

Written by Steven Lenton

Narrated by Ben Abell

Meet Grant the genie, and his best friend – the puppy, Teeny…

The fourth in a series of magical adventures from the renowned illustrator Steven Lenton, winner of Waterstones Picture Book of the Month and The Times Children’s Book of the Week.

Back home, in the land of Wishaluzia, Grant is enjoying his old life. But when trouble strikes he realises he’ll need a helping hand. Can Teeny lend a paw and save the day? Or will it be the end of Genie Land forever?…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Jun 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9780008408602

Steven Lenton

Steven Lenton hails from Cheshire and now works from his studio in Soho, London creating an array of charming characters for his picture books. Best known for illustrating the bestselling Shifty McGifty series written by Tracey Corderoy, Steven has illustrated many lovely book as well as writing and illustrating his own stories.

Reviews for Wish Upon A Star

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up to help close out the month of November and to hopefully get a start on the festive season with a Christmas story. Wish Upon A Star by Trisha Ashley tells the story of Cally and her young daughter, Stella. They have moved to the village of Sticklepond to live with Cally‘s mother in order to help save money for a trip to the United States so Stella can have an experimental operation that she needs. Meanwhile, Jago is also new to the area and he is looking for a location to set up his wedding cake business. Cally is into cakes as well and writes recipes in both a magazine and a Sunday Supplement. This is not the right time for either of them to be getting involved in a relationship, but it appears to everyone that these two are perfect for each other and they can only fool themselves for so long. This story could easily have been overly sentimental but the author manages to keep the story moving along and does not allow it to bog down in pathos. Stella is a very sick child but the characters around her remain optimistic that the operation will give her a normal life. The bulk of the story is about the raising of the money for Stella’s operation, and the establishing of Jago’s business. There are a couple of over-the-top ex-fiancés that were a little silly, but overall this was a nice light romance with enough seasonal touches to give it a festive feel. The book reaches it’s romantic conclusion as Christmas draws near and it brings a nice, satisfying closure to the story. This is the first book I have read by Trisha Ashley, and I understand that she often bases her stories in this village which seems to have an almost magical feeling about it. Although this story was not exactly a show stopper, I would certainly like to try other books by this author. One warning however, be prepared to read about a wide variety of yummy sounding cakes (some recipes are provided in the back of the book).