Waiting on Wednesday: Wish by Barbara O'Connor

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine in which we share the titles we can't wait to release.

Wish by Barbara O'Connor. 240 p. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, November 1, 2016. 9780374302733.

Publisher synopsis: Eleven-year-old Charlie Reese has been making the same secret wish every day since fourth grade. She even has a list of all the ways there are to make the wish, such as cutting off the pointed end of a slice of pie and wishing on it as she takes the last bite. But when she is sent to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to live with family she barely knows, it seems unlikely that her wish will ever come true. That is until she meets Wishbone, a skinny stray dog who captures her heart, and Howard, a neighbor boy who proves surprising in lots of ways. Suddenly Charlie is in serious danger of discovering that what she thought she wanted may not be what she needs at all.

From award-winning author Barbara O'Connor comes a middle-grade novel about a girl who, with the help of a true-blue friend, a big-hearted aunt and uncle, and the dog of her dreams, unexpectedly learns the true meaning of family in the least likely of places.

I absolutely adore Barbara O'Connor's writing. She tackles unusual issues in her books and does so in a beautiful economy of writing. Her books are touching and accessible.