The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice

Ten-year-old Felix Jones is miserable: his best friend Max has moved away from their hometown of Whittlestone, and Rebecca, his beloved older sister, has been ignoring him. Trudging home alone—Rebecca forgot (or refused) to pick him up from soccer again—Felix pauses at Whittlestone’s fountain, wishing on his last penny for Rebecca to like him again. Elderly wishkeeper Rupus Beewinkle appears and laments that while he wants to grant Felix’s wish, his wishfulness gauge reports a dangerous level of downcast and disheartened feelings resulting from granted wishes mysteriously dissolving. As Rupus’s newly appointed apprentice, Felix must seek out the monster destroying Whittlestone’s wishes, along the way discovering that he himself is the result of a wish Rebecca made a decade ago—and, if the fur-covered wishsnatcher remains at large, Felix will fade from existence. British author Chivers Khoo’s debut is a pleasantly cozy fantasy starring a resourceful hero with a knack for sorting out the delightfully disorganized Rupus, and whose yearning to repair his sibling bond is affecting. A recipe for snorlicks, the heartening wishkeeper’s drink of choice, concludes. Most characters read as white. Ages 7–10. (Apr.)