Wishes Come in Threes

At the start of the summer, Phyll longs for three things: less knobbly knees; a dog of her own; the cloud of depression that lingers over her mum to blow away in the Cornish sea breeze now that they’ve moved. But wishing is easy. It’s magic that’s in short supply, or so Phyll thinks until she meets the mysterious Mr Djinn at the old folks’ home. Mr Djinn is a firm believer in the power of wishing for the right things. He would be, since he claims to be a genie. Genie or not, Phyll is just pleased to have someone other than her journal with whom to share her thoughts and feelings. And she has a lot of those, what with Hilda the bully at summer camp, a stranger on the beach who seems very interested in other people’s dogs and waiting, hoping, for her mum’s sadness to lift. But as Phyll is about to learn, wishing hard enough, wishing well enough can bring its own magic.