Room with a Review: Genie Wishes by Elisabeth Dahl

Title:  Genie Wishes

Month/Year Published:  April 2013

Author:  Elisabeth Dahl

You May Know Her: As a debut (novel) author!

You May Find Her: At her website and on twitter at @ElisabethDahl.

Review You May Not Have Seen:  Katherine Sokolowski's review on The Nerdy Book Club.

The Review

When I entered a twitter contest for two autographed copies of Elisabeth Dahl's first novel, GENIE WISHES, I had to admit that I didn't know anything about it.  I won (YAY!), received my copies in the mail and, of course, was immediately taken in by the adorable cover, but it was a tiny description about a Popsicle in the first few moments of Genie Wishes that got me hooked on this sweet and perceptive read.  

Genie Kunkle is beginning the fifth (and final) grade at her private school's lower school.  Along with the responsibilities and choices that come with being selected as class blogger, Genie struggles with many issues familiar to kids her age:  friendship threesomes (oh nothing can go wrong there!), changing relationships (with members of the opposite sex), puberty (ew), and most importantly that pull between wanting to fit in and wanting to remain true to yourself.

What I liked about Genie Wishes was that there was nothing incredibly earth-shattering about Genie's life - don't take this the wrong way...there is nothing boring about this book.  Hers are the every day worries and concerns of certain tweens, yet Ms. Dahl manages to make reading about them, and Genie's decisions, immensely readable, comforting and fresh - I was reminded of The Baby-Sitter's Club series, those books I devoured like candy back in the day and are being gobbled up in their updated form by my fifth graders.

An added bonus are the delightful line drawings sprinkled throughout the book, also by Ms. Dahl; fans of the sketches in Grace Lin's Year of the Dog series will enjoy these little touches.  Another cool aspect of the book is its pinpoint-able location, which will no doubt be of interest to many Baltimore-area readers (and writers - hello Laurel Snyder!).

I would recommend this book for readers in grade five (obvs!) and above; it would also make a perfect gift for that fifth grader moving on to middle school.

Genie Wishes gets five out of five dog ears from me!