This book has a good moral of be careful what you wish for, but I don't thin it would keep fourth graders interested. I had a couple of kids try it and they didn't care for it. I wasn't a huge fan, but it was okay.

This book has an intriguing plot idea fit for a good discussion - if you could have only one wish, what would you wish for? I liked how the exact wording of each wish definitely became essential in the carrying out of the wish, and how different the final outcome was from that which was the intent. Plus, who could not appreciate a character named Stew Meat?

I read this book when I was a kid and it's haunted me. It took me a long time to find it again, as all I could remember were bits and pieces of the horrors within. Three tales of wishes gone wrong. An interesting read, highlighting a small town in, idk, some southern town in the 1920s? dust bowl? who knows!

What a surprising delight! I’m always pleased to come across an unknown book that turns out to be great fun.

I’m not sure I would’ve enjoyed it as much without the audio. The narrator was fantastically hilarious. His voices had me giggling away.

Great little lessons for people who wish for something better. I would love to share this one with my fifth graders. Highly recommended.

This timeless tale of magic explores the immediacy of human wants. When given the option of getting anything you wish for, what would you ask? This story follows three characters and their granted wishes, which of course include additional results they didn’t anticipate. Through getting what they want, will the characters realize what they already have and what they really need?

From what I remember as a 4th grader, this book stunned me; every night I was in shambles to run up the stairs and into my bed as fast as my little legs could carry me, so that the darkness below did not consume me.

I first had this story read to me by my 3rd grade teacher. It’s just as magical to me now as it was then. This book takes me back in time and it is very special to me. Also it has three great messages woven into the story. I think this should be mandatory for all 3rd grade teachers to read to their students so all kids can visit Coven Tree.

This was one of my childhood favorites when it was originally written and the nostalgia is still there. The stories are reminiscent of parables from the South, told by grandparents after church services on hot summer days. These are the stories that are so ridiculous that you roll your eyes and say "that never happened," all the while silently thinking that you would never be so foolish as to make a careless wish or show such behavior as to suffer the consequences, right?

I was today years old when I found out that this is considered a "banned" book. For promoting witchcraft, no less. With a fair amount of mental gymnastics - like, an Olympics-worthy floor routine at minimum - I can almost see how a very paranoid person living prior to the advent of the Internet could see it. I mean, dowsing? A practice that was once commonly believed to be a legitimate method of sourcing water during drought? WITCHERY! A strange man passing through town offers wishes to children that prove actions have consequences? Why, he must be recruiting for the dark lord! We couldn't possibly consider any form of parental neglect, right?

Or - and go with me for just a moment - consider that this is a book which is just over forty years old. Now think of a forty-year-old that you know; it may even be yourself. Are there things that they do or used to do that you raised an eyebrow at? Was it witchcraft? Or was it generational differences?

This was a Newberry? This was poorly written, the characters were unbelievable, and the plot was absolutely predictable. I wonder if it's because it was promoting witchcraft and wishes and the like as evil, as the characters were 'good church abiding citizens/children'. I think this is easily one of the worst Newberrys that I've read yet. 2 ⭐ and I'm being generous. I couldn't stand the characters, and overall, just blegh. No thank you. I recommend any Newberry but this one.

I read this book when I was in middle school and loved it. I just read it to my kids and it really held up. Good little moral and fun adventures along the way!

If you could wish for anything - what would you wish for???? 3 young people thought they had the best wish for them but----- Interesting to think about.

Middle reader - quick read.

Don't waste your time with this book. How it won a Newbery I'll never know. Must have been a really bad year for literature. But 180 pages to say, "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it" is a little excessive. I hated this book when I read it in college as part of a Children's Lit course on the grounds that it had nothing to offer children. I hated it when I read it this time on the grounds that it was just a waste of paper.