Presents an illustrated guide to wishing traditions from around the world, including Japan, China, Russia, Israel, Italy, Guatemala, the United States, and others, providing insights into the various cultures and highlighting the similarities.

Every wish is fulfilled on the First of Octember.

When a strange little man comes to the Coven Tree Church Social promising he can give people exactly what they ask for, three young believers-in-magic each make a wish that comes true in the most unexpected way.

Nai-nai tells her granddaughters the story of her outing, as a seven-year-old girl in China, to see the Moon Lady and be granted a secret wish.

A young Cambodian girl saves her money to buy a bird on which to make a wish for her poor family's future.

Four kids who live in the same town but do not know one another are mysteriously connected by magic when they are each granted two wishes.

The town of Haywood, New Jersey, has a secret. A wish monster. Violet Park discovered its cave by accident, and the wish monster granted her deepest desire by bringing her dog Midnight back to life. It even erased everyone's memory of his death. Life was perfect. But then an unremarkable boy named Hudson Causeway somehow remembered Midnight had died. That scared Violet. What if he ruined everything? Even worse, what if the wish monster wasn't as...

A group of kids on holiday with their parents in Cornwall, England meets a magical creature (voiced by Michael Caine) on the beach with the power to grant wishes.

Jane wishes she were more like her friend Pyg the sculptor until Pyg's statue of a beautiful goddess comes to life and teaches them both to be careful what they wish for. Based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion.

A red oak tree and a crow help their human neighbors work out their differences-- An old red oak tree tells how he and his crow friend, Bongo, help their human neighbors get along after a threat against an immigrant family is carved into the tree's trunk. Provided by publisher.