The Trouble with Wishes - Hardcover

Stanley, Diane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060554517 ISBN 13: 9780060554514

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007

Synopsis

A sculptor named Pyg carves a statue of a goddess so beautiful, so perfect, that he falls head over heels in love with her. He buys her gifts, tells her stories, and wishes with all his heart she were a real, live woman. The trouble with wishes is . . . sometimes they come true!

Diane Stanley's lively prose and vivid illustrations bring this funny and warm tale of misguided love to life as Pyg learns what a true companion is really made of.

About this title

About the Author:

Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of beloved books for young readers, including The Silver Bowl, which received three starred reviews, was named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews and Book Links Lasting Connections, and was an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Cup and the Crown; Saving Sky, winner of the Arab American Museum's Arab American Book Award and a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year; Bella at Midnight, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy; The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine; and A Time Apart. Well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture-book biographies, she is the recipient of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for her body of work.

Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively reimagined fairy tales: The Giant and the Beanstalk, Goldie and the Three Bears, and Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. dianestanleybooks.com.

Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of beloved books for young readers, including The Silver Bowl, which received three starred reviews, was named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews and Book Links Lasting Connections, and was an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Cup and the Crown; Saving Sky, winner of the Arab American Museum's Arab American Book Award and a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year; Bella at Midnight, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy; The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine; and A Time Apart. Well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture-book biographies, she is the recipient of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for her body of work.

Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively reimagined fairy tales: The Giant and the Beanstalk, Goldie and the Three Bears, and Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. dianestanleybooks.com.

From Booklist:

Stanley has written and illustrated several previous fractured fairy tales, including Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter (1997). Now, in a mischievous turnaround on the Pygmalion myth and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, she blends the classical and the contemporary with sly exaggeration. Jane, who wants to be a great sculptor and carve creatures from hunks of stone like her best friend, Pyg, becomes Pyg's apprentice. One day Pyg carves a masterpiece, a beautiful goddess, absolutely perfect. To Jane, however, the goddess statue seems heartless. When the goddess comes to life, she does, indeed, prove to be self-centered and mean, and she eventually leaves Pyg and his "dump" for the prince's palace. Then, to help Pyg get over "the girl of his dreams," Jane carves him the perfect pet companion. Stanley's fresh artwork, which mixes the grandeur of old classical forms and the absurdity of the new, is in perfect balance with the parody. Children older than the target audience may also enjoy this. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060554517
• ISBN 13: 9780060554514
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Stanley Diane