Ella+May+and+the+Wishing+Stone

**Author: **Cary Fagan **Illustrator:** Genevieve Cote  **Age Range: ** 4 - 6 years  **Hardcover: ** 32 pages  **Publisher: ** Tundra Books (August 9, 2011)  **Language: ** English  **ISBN-13: ** 978-1770492257 **__Summary:__** Ella May finds a wishing stone when she went to the beach. Ella May starts off by wondering what she should wish for, and then she believes that the stone was meant for her and that she should wish for whatever she would like. As Ella May gets caught up in her wishes, she alienates herself from her friends. She even denies them their own wishes on her wishing stone when they ask. In the end, Ella May realizes that having the stone might grant her certain wishes, but she will up friendless if she uses it in a greedy way.

**__An analysis of a literary element:__ Writing Style-** Cary Fagan uses repetition in his story to form a clear and simple writing style. For example, “They all started looking for their own wishing stones. They looked in the front garden. They looked in the back gardens. They looked under trees and behind garbage cans.” This example from the book provides repetition that children can easily follow along with. Students will find themselves excited for the repetition while they subconsciously remember each event as its introduced. Fagan's writing style is important for children learning themes from short stories. In this story, the author uses repetition to make it clear that friends are more reliable then wishes from a stone.

**__Review of Book:__** This is a great book to read to children about friendship and wishes. The illustrations are brightly colored but relaxed at the same time. They draw out the story for children so that it's nearly impossible between the writing style and illustrations for children to not understand the actions in the story.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__**Author Bio:**__ Cary Fagan is an award-winning children’s author, a writer of adult novels, an editor and a contributor to a number of magazines and newspapers. He was born in 1957 in Toronto. Although during his childhood he did not like to read, he ended up studying at the University of Toronto for an undergraduate degree in English, and won eight student writing awards. He has two children.

**__Related Links:__** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qTbahMnRlI