While attending a conference in Istanbul, Dr. Alithea Binnie happens to encounter a djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems: first, she doubts that he's real, and second, because she's a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually, she's beguiled and makes a wish that surprises...

Asha, a sharp-witted idealist, makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force, a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star confront a most formidable foe, the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico, to save her community and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.

"Lucy Young is twenty-six and tired. Tired of fetching coffees for senior TV producers, sick of going on disastrous dates, and done with living in a damp flat with roommates who never buy toilet paper. After another disappointing date, Lucy stumbles upon a wishing machine. Pushing a coin into the slot, Lucy closes her eyes and wishes with all her might: Please, let me skip to the good part of my life. When she wakes the next morning to a handsome...

On their last trip to the laundromat before moving, a mom invites her child to make a wish on a washing machine, which spurs everyone else in the laundromat to share their wishes.

"Armed with talismans, including an enchanted jacket that gets people to do anything, a baseball bat that fixes anything it breaks and a manifestation stone that makes anyone fall in love, Rosie, her older sister Caro and Zeke find their lives intertwined in magical and hilarious ways"--

"'Hanako-san, Hanako-san...are you there?' At Kamome Academy, rumors abound about the school's Seven Mysteries, one of which is Hanako-san. Said to occupy the third stall of the third floor girls' bathroom in the old school building, Hanako-san grants any wish when summoned. Nene Yashiro, an occult-loving high school girl who dreams of romance, ventures into this haunted bathroom... but the Hanako-san she meets there is nothing like she imagined!...

"When a baby rabbit is accidentally turned into a giant, Bizard the Bear Wizard and his friends have to figure out how to fix this magic wish spell gone awry."--

In this modern-day retelling of the Japanese folktale The Melon Princess and the Amanjaku, twelve-year-old Melony befriends a wish-granting demon who encourages her to rebel against her overprotective parents, all while using her for his own evil scheme.

Illuminates all the hopeful ways children around the world make wishes. Includes backmatter on the traditions of wish-making.