The Wonderful Wishes of B. is the story of a smart, quirky girl learning what she wants and what she needs—and how, sometimes, the wishes we hold dearest are granted in the most unexpected ways.

This book was deep, it focused on a young girl’s journey dealing with grief, friendships and her absent parents. It’s a middle grade fantasy, but feels more like a YA , because like I said it’s deep, my heart broke for B.

I picked this book because of the cover. The cover is a wonderful illustration of a girl holding a cute little kitten and a bunch of cats following her. As a pet lover who has raised many cats myself, I was intrigued.

The B in the title stands for Beatrice, an almost eleven-year-old girl. The story starts with Beatrice rescuing a kitten, which warms my heart. I love the character of Beatrice. She was going through a lot in her life, yet she faced every day with so much hope. I wished her mother spent some quality time with her because she was lonely most of the time and talked to a doll that she believed would come to life so that she would feel less lonely.

Throughout the book, Beatrice had five wishes that she was hoping would come true. The wishes may be totally different from one another, but they all circle around the point of breaking her loneliness. Her love for her deceased grandmother was so beautifully expressed.

I loved most of the parts, but some scenes dissatisfied me. Some parts where the author claimed the involvement of magic were left unanswered. Overall, it's a very good read with so many emotions at play.

Top Five Reasons To Read The Wonderful Wishes of B
This book is written PURR-fectly.
There’s LITTER-ally a witch in the character lineup.
There is the CAT-astrophe of grief but the promise of hope.
This 10-year-old main character is HISS-terical and driven.
The Cover is MEOW MEOW beautiful.

This of could be a great read but I found that B read as being younger with her constant wish making and seemed to be a loner until Caleb. I also wonder if the constant bead pulling was a coping mechanism but wasn't properly discussed.

There were certain actions of B which I question as she did not seem to realise the consequences.

I did love B's cats they all managed to steal every scene they were in. i did like the homages to the Wizard of Oz but wish that there were more.

For all the above reasons The Wonderful Wishes of B 3 stars

Characters-8

The characters in The Wonderful Wishes of B were fun. I enjoyed their personalities and Beatrice’s love of cats. I related to the main character Beatrice because at times during the story, she preferred her animals to people. Caleb was a fun character because he was a bit mysterious, and I was curious about his story. I liked seeing the relationship between Beatrice and Raejean because it depicted the kind of relationships kids this age have. Beatrice was lonely at the start of this story, and then Caleb gave her someone to talk to which I loved because she had someone that understood her. The adults in this story were fun as well.

Plot-7
could
I liked this story. I loved B trying to bring bright baby to live in memory of her grandmother. This was a story of grief, and how Beatrice was dealing with her own grief, which I thought kids could relate to. Beatrice was also on a mission to help save her grandmother’s salon, and I loved how much she cared about keeping the legacy. Beatrice’s dad plays a role in the subplot, which I loved as most of the stories I’ve read for this age group have both parents present. I wish we could have seen more of the story. The ending felt abrupt to me.

Writing-8

I liked the writing of this novel. I thought the writing style was great for this age group because it was a simple style, but one that wasn’t too juvenile. Middle -Grade readers will enjoy the writing style because it uses themes and words they can learn something from, but still relate to.

Enjoyment-7

This was a fun story. I enjoyed the characters and for the most part, the story was great.

The Wonderful Wishes of B is a sweet deep story full of hope and with some The Wizard of Oz references! Beatrice is a girl that is full of pain and is just looking for a way to escape it. The friendship between Beatrice and Caleb is delightful and I really enjoyed seeing the relationships between Beatrice and the adults in her life develop! The characters are unique and the cats are charming!

“I just missed and missed and kept on missing her. Missing is not a thing you can ever run out of. That’s the truth and a point-blank fact.”

After her best friend moves to another state and her grandmother passes away, ten-year-old Beatrice Cornwell is left with eight small cats and five huge wishes. Most of all, Bea wants to become a “Tin Man” and stop feeling all the intense emotions she has been bombarded with every day since her mother was forced to take on the now-struggling salon that her grandmother formerly ran. She doesn’t even care if she must lose her happiness alongside her grief. To uncover the best way to make her wishes come true, Bea begrudgingly teams up with the goofy new kid in town, Caleb Chernavachin. With the eight cats in tow, the two search relentlessly for a magical solution to all of Bea’s problems, facing bullies, witches, and adults who just don’t seem to care.

I picked up this book for the cats, but I stayed for the character relationships. Both Beatrice and Caleb felt like actual kids with real personalities and flaws. I was deeply invested in the friends-to-lovers arc between Beatrice’s mother and Felix, a neighboring shop owner. Felix’s interactions with Bea felt very genuine, kind, and supportive, which Bea truly needed since her mother was very preoccupied. However, the relationships between the characters were not enough to make this a great book. The author was perpetually trying to do too much. Bea’s five wishes varied drastically in their significance and probability, and it never felt like Bea could figure out her priorities. Furthermore, none of these problems were resolved until the very end of the novel, where they were quickly and easily fixed or dismissed entirely. The pacing was off, and I felt like the author underestimated the intelligence of readers. The many attempts at quirky characters and phrases also detracted from this book. The phrase “the truth and a point-blank fact” occurred twenty-three times! While I love a distinctive character, Bea’s repetitiveness was exhausting. Lastly, I was confused whether this book was intended to feel realistic or fantastical. There are stories where realism can be blurred in an engaging way, but this narrative did not achieve that effect. While the characters are intriguing, this middle grade novel left me feeling unsatisfied, largely due to the undefined magic system and lack of character growth.

My heart goes out to B and anyone, especially any child, that finds themselves wishing to stop feeling because feeling hurts too badly. B has a wish for each finger and one is B’s wishes is to turn into something that does not have feelings. The reader gets to discover the hurt and gets to discover hope and joy and, of course, some more hurt. Even if the reader is not looking for a book about loss, this book can still provide so much. Actually, I think it is better to read a book like this when you don’t need it. To let Nolte entertain you with her wonderfully unique characters and some fantastically charming cats! And then when the child one day is coping with loss, that will be a wonderful time to remember B, her interesting friends, and her Cosmic Cats.

The Wonderful Wishes of B was truly a delight to read. Of course, it had me at the introduction of the cats–each named after a planet. However, the heart of the story really is the protagonist, Beatrice. She is spunky with just the right amount of edge, and the author voiced her perfectly. She is laser-focused and trying to hold it together after the loss of her grandmother and her best friend. There is so much to relate to here in both the themes and various characters. Throw in a possible witch (?!), some wishes–plus nice pacing–and you have a fabulous read for middle grade readers. This is one of the most enjoyable reads this year, and it can be recommended without hesitation.

I received an electronic ARC from Random House Children's through NetGalley.
Readers meet Bea as she is grieving several losses in her life. She has decided on the best way to cope - become like the Tin Man and feel nothing. The whole plot wraps around her desire to stop feeling pain and to be immune to emotions. This feels like a more adult concept than a ten year old would comprehend but I never rule out what kids are capable of. Nolte does share enough information to see why Bea feels this way and why she wants to escape from her reality. Her relationship with a new friend takes time to develop. Readers get hints of what he is going through as well. By the end, Bea learns that painful feelings are part of love and need to be processed and moved through.
I'm not fond of the evil witch motif but Nolte does make it work as part of the overall plot. It feels as though too many different losses weave together so Bea becomes unbelievable as a character rather than a strong 10-year old maturing and learning how to heal and move forward.

I found so much of this book spectacular...I would recommend it widely except one plot element is a bit of a sensitive spot for me. Because of that, it's one I'd recommend parents read first before handing to their kids--and plan on some discussions.

What I loved:

THE WIZARD OF OZ references! Honestly, it took me about halfway through the book to notice them, because they were subtle—until I noticed, at least, and then I was amazed I had not noticed earlier. I think the fact that they didn't hit you over the head was a sign of the gentle touch the author used, and the fact that the story is very much her own and not in any way derivative.

The friendship between Bea and Caleb is delightful and realistic. I also loved seeing the way Bea's relationships with the adults in her life developed.

The feeling of hope that permeates this novel is palpable. I'm a firm believer that all children's books should be filled with hope, and was happy to see that this did not disappoint!

WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE:

Okay, so one of Bea's wishes, a big one, came across as too juvenile for a child her age. I wonder if kids would be able to suspend disbelief. Certainly, all the trauma that Bea has gone through would make her maturity form at a different rate than the average kid, so as an adult I was willing to set aside my doubt, but I think it may separate her character from the target readers. (If I'm wrong, please chime in with a comment about your children's experiences!)

The Witch. The presence of a real, spell-casting, evil witch was the plot element that I referred to above. It was too dark for me, too real. At the same time…yeah…evil exists. Kids should be empowered to fight it! And there is no point in this story in which the witch's evil actions are justified or made light of, and I appreciated that. I felt better about it when I realized the Wizard of Oz references I had missing. But it still made me uncomfortable that Bea sought out a witch's help, and thus I hesitate to hand this book off to kids without prepping for lots of discussion!

This was a sweet read. B has 5 wishes to make and then she will become a Tin Man. Then, she will no longer miss her grandmother who passed as well as her friend who moved away. When she meets Caleb, he agrees to help her with her wishes. I appreciated how it showed a young girl’s experience of grief, loss, and change.

The description of the book seemed interesting, so I wanted to check the story out. Unfortunately, it is not working for me right now. It is nothing against the story or the author, but I couldn't get into the story/characters. The target audience will most likely love this story. I may try and find a physical copy to add the my library when it is released, though, because I think my readers could like it!