About Children’s Book Reviews @ BeTwinned
Mordant’s Wish by Valerie Coursen
Photo from Amazon.com
Review by Sandra Horning
Just this week I saw a turtle trying to cross the road. I stopped the car, and my older son hopped out and helped the turtle across the road.
This reminded me of one of my favorite books, Mordant’s Wish. When we came home that night we read Mordant’s Wish and that led me to write this review, which came about in the true spirit of the story, as it is about the way one thing leads to another in an unpredictable, but, nevertheless, interconnected way.
As the story opens, we see Mordant the mole staring at a turtle-shaped cloud in the sky and wishing for a turtle friend. Mordant’s wish is set in motion by blowing on a dandelion puff and thus begins a wonderful chain of events. Because, at that very moment, Calum is riding by on his bike and he sees the dandelion seeds, which remind him of snow, and this makes him decide to stop and get a snow cone. Peanut the bird sees the drips of Calum’s snow cone in the shape of a hat, which reminds her of Aunt Nat, and so off she flies to visit her aunt.
The story continues with each character unknowingly affecting the actions of the next until we get to a turtle being helped across the road and Mordant’s wish finally coming true. It’s a lovely story of serendipity!
Coursen’s beautiful watercolor illustrations flow from one page to the next. Young children of all ages will enjoy this book and, perhaps, it will inadvertently lead you on to a new adventure or to make a wish yourself.
Ages 3-8
