Justine Pucella Winans excels at genuinely creepy, genuinely heartfelt middle grade horror. The theme of Wishbone is mostly "careful what you wish for", but it's also a little (or a lot) "I support trans rights, and trans wrongs."

Ollie Di Costa is many things, a demiboy, a baker, a loner, and a kid who has had to deal with a lot, so is justifiably really mad about a lot of things. When he accidentally adopts a magical cat who grants wishes, Ollie thinks things are finally looking up. Until he and his sister Mia begin to realise that for every wish granted, a curse is unleashed.

At times a heavy-handed metaphor for working through anger and accepting help from loved ones, Wishbone is equally disturbing in the best way. The Backwards Place and its beasts are truly nightmarish; The Otherwoods brought us human/tree hybrids, but Wishbone one-ups it with double-jointed chimeras and throats full of teeth. If Andrew Joseph White is the King of YA trans horror, Justine Pucella Winans is the Monarch of MG queer creepiness. Long may they reign.

Creepy and heart-wrenching and delightfully imaginative. WISHBONE is going to become a favourite for many, many readers. What's not to love? There's a magical cat, a twisted mirror dimension, Curses With Consequences (my favourite) and underscoring it all, a beautifully vulnerable exploration of gender identity, complex family matters, and what it means to belong. Justine Pucella Winans is SUCH a pro at combining all these fantastical & realistic threads in a wonderfully accessible, thematic way--it's the definition of "horror with heart" and makes me SO excited for whatever they write next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Justine has become an auto read author of mine. Their writing always speaks to me. If I need a pick me up with horror elements and queer rep I know that their books will be there. I hadn’t read any middle grade books this month so I thought this would be a good pick to continue on with the summer horror I’ve been reading.

Ollie is a very flawed character and that’s what makes him so appealing. He’s 12 and tired of being treated differently because he’s trans. Everyone wants to be understood, and Ollie is done with bullies and transphobic comments online. I also learned what the term Demiboy means from this book so thank you! A few times Ollie was frustrating to me and I wanted to shake him, but I think that comes with being 12 as well.

This book gave excellent messages about being able to control your anger and not let it consume you. It also talks about being true to yourself and finding people who love you for you no matter what. There’s a healthy dose of scary scenes for kids who like horror elements as well, but nothing too gory or graphic. I’m always in for Justine’s vivid nightmare worlds.

There’s also good conversation about the importance of relationships. I really enjoyed the family dynamic between Mia and Ollie. Mia was an awesome big sister and it’s always refreshing to see siblings get along so well. The friendships here are just as important, and Noah and Lauren were great to show how flawed Ollie’s feelings of having friends were and how much his growth changed those feelings.

I have a soft spot for stories about wishes that go horribly wrong and this was a fun read. Wishbone and crew were adorable and the end was wholesome and heartwarming. This is a solid middle grade books and another one from Justine that I loved!