Wishes Are Free: Rose O’Reilly and Grandpa follows a ten-year-old girl whose best friend moves 2000 miles away, and she worries she will never have another friend like her. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for Wishes Are Free came through the back door. It began as short stories I wrote for fun and read to my neighbor who is developmentally disabled. She loved them and I thought, I might have something here. I strung those stories together and added more, and the result is Wishes Are Free.
I knew I wanted to write a story about friendship. Losing your lifelong best friend would set the quest for a new best friend in motion. I thought it would be cool for Rose to discover, on the way to finding a new best friend, that marginalized kids make excellent friends too.
Rose learns that there are different kinds of friends in each person’s life, grandparents, classmates, and even animals. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Empathy, Kindness, and Acceptance. Wishes Are Free is part biographical. As children often are, I was misunderstood at times, as Rose is when she wants to help a classmate who suffers abuse at home. I drew on those memories, those feelings of frustration when my motives were misunderstood.
I hope that young readers will recognize themselves in Rose’s acts of kindness, in her acceptance of kids who are different, and feel validated.
Rose is autonomous, too. Grandpa shares his wisdom but always leaves it up to her what to do with his advice. I want kids to identify with Rose’s struggles and present a model who seeks help but believes in herself, as well.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Rose’s friendship with Grandpa demonstrates how talking out your problems is a positive, results-oriented path to finding solutions. Asking for help is good practice for adulthood, and I hope readers will discover how you can grow close to family members when you ask for help. And encourage them to ask for help.
Wishes Are Free spotlights kindness without preaching. Rose’s big heart leads the way, and ultimately kindness pays off. Maybe not in the way you expected but it always pays off.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
The next book, Be Careful What You Wish, follows Rose into summer vacation and her quest for the third wish (a dog of her own), the only wish that didn’t come true in Wishes Are Free. It introduces Rose’s nemesis, Bea Buffett, the neighborhood fussbudget. The target date is Christmas 2024.
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