Sidney makes a Wish by Lisa Thompson illustrated by Jess Rose

The books from the series Little Gems are gems - in this one Sidney seems to have lost his friend. Billy is now more interested in Austin and poor little Sidney is left on his own at school.  

One morning Sidney discovers an old wishing well. His mum explains how they work. 

"When I was little, I threw a penny into the well and made a wish ... 'Did your wish come true?' Sidney asked."

Sidney gathers four coins and each day for four days he closes his eyes, makes a wish and tosses his coin in to the well. 

"He felt a little tingle in his toes, and he grinned. The wish must have worked!"

Sidney wishes for a trampoline then Billy could come around and play and then "Billy would think that Sidney was the BEST friend in the world."

Sadly this wish does not work. Next Sidney wishes for an ice cream machine. If he had an ice cream machine he could invite Billy over and they could eat delicious ice cream and be "best friends forever". Alas there is no ice cream machine in the kitchen when Sidney arrives home. And the next day the robot dog he wanted is not there either. Is the wishing well broken?  

While all of this has been happening a new girl called Carrie has been watching Sidney and Carrie's dad and Sidney's mum have begun to form a friendship. Can you guess the real wish and how it does come true just not in the way Sidney would ever have expected.

Read this review from Just Imagine:

The book offers lots of opportunities to discuss how children feel when someone doesn’t want to play with them or is unkind to them. It also shows children who may have behaved like Billy what impact that might have had on others.

Here is the web site for Lisa Thompson. I have previously talked about Goldfish Boy.