The Wishing Star
Rita Salter
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 iUniverse
ISBN: 0595341098

Angry when he doesn't get the gift he asks for, a boy makes a wish. & wakes up when the dinosaurs were alive.

When his best buddy comes riding over on his brand new mountain bike, Robbie's really envious, & decides, as his birthday is coming up, that is exactly the present he'll ask for.

You see, his parents have always given him what he asked for... always... except this year Dad's lost his job... & money's tight. Still, when Robbie's birthday does roll around & the bike isn't there, he gets mad. So much so that when he sees a meteor shower in the night sky, he makes a far-fetched wish upon one of the falling stars.

The next morning, when nothing's changed, he throws a few fits & sulks off to school. By the time he gets home, his Dad's got great news: he's been hired back by his boss, & at an even better job. So off father & son go to buy that mountain bike. Yahoo! & even there, in the store, Robbie's got to throw a fit because he doesn't want a bike his Dad's got to put together, he wants the demo.

Pedaling along without a care in the world, Robbie doesn't see the tree that's fallen across the path until it's too late, & wham! Slam! He takes a tumble & gets knocked out.

When he wakes up everything's very different: for starters he's all shut up in a tiny, dark closet. Angry, & a little bit scared, Robbie whacks at the walls of the “closet”, & tumbles out into a bright world he's never seen before. He's certainly never seen the huge egg out of which he's just emerged. Then he realizes there are no street lights, no houses, & the plants are huge. & when he watches a leaf fall into some water he sees he's no longer a human being, he's a newborn Brontosaur.

& then something mighty big is thumping its way toward him. It's a grown-up Brontosaur called Bronella, who is herding all the newborn Brontos to the Learning Place. What really stuns Robbie is that he totally understands what she's saying to him. That's when he realizes his wish has come true & he's in the world of the dinosaurs. Wow, what a thrill! Real, live dinos in an awesome world. Cool, right?

Not exactly! He no longer has hands, & has a hard time keeping up with Bronella as she lopes off into a landscape that is really scary.

& so start the adventures of a spoiled boy in the body of a dinosaur. Who will he meet? Who are the Terrible Ones? Will he escape being somebody's tasty dinner? Will he ever return to the life he once knew?

The Wishing Star is Rita Salter's debut fable about being careful of what you wish for, friendship & courage. She's a natural born storyteller, & I sure hope she's got more up her sleeve.
(07/31/05)

Rebecca