Wish You Well and How to Do (Almost) Everything

Sumner, Jamie. Wish You Well

September 1, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Violet knows that she is losing her sight to Best syndrome, but she would rather focus on playing soccer than to think about it. Her single mother, a busy lawyer, takes her to doctor's appointments and wants her to talk about it, but also throws herself into work and spends a lot of time away from home. When Violet has to go to a "sick kids" event, she meets Wyatt, who has had a heart transplant, and Noor, who has cancerous tumors and is undergoing chemotherapy. Wyatt's mom and dad are focused on his older brother Finn's football career, and don't quite understand Wyatt's interest in gaming and technology. Noor's father was killed in the military, and her mom is a nurse, so very invested in Noor's treatment, as is her older sister. The three decide to pretend to be friends in order to get their families off their backs, but Wyatt comes up with a great idea; they are all constantly getting mailings from the Wish on a Star Foundation; what if they game the system, each ask for a wish, and ask to heave their "best friends" join them? They have to establish a "plausible friendship", so start hanging out together. There's always a little tension; Violet likes Wyatt, Noor is prickly, and the three can't quite see eye to eye on the wishes they choose. (Wyatt claims to want to kick a field goal at a Titans' game but later changes his wish to visiting the Googleplex offices, Noor wants to meet a celebrity chef, and Violet wants to blow up a building!) They all have challenges, and don't really want to share them with each other. Violet's vision worsens, but she keeps this from her mother as well as her friends. She and Wyatt have some a romantic moments, but then stop talking to each other. Noor's cancer isn't cured by the chemo and she must undergo some experimental treatment. Violet's mother doesn't want to let Violet have her wish because of her increasingly erratic behavior and her failing grades. All of the kids are doing the best they can, but could they do better if they confided in their friends and family? 

Strengths: Yes, I am always saying that middle grade books are too depressing. Yes, I was obsessed with Beverly Butler's 1962 Light a Single Candle, about Cathy, a girl who is going blind. Both things can be true. There are plenty of sad things in this book, but it FEELS so much different. The characters are sad, angry, and dealing with lots of things, but they are also going forward in a positive way, having adventures, and even embarking on a light romance. Life goes on. It doesn't stop because someone is ill or dies. (Noor's father has died, but it is not discussed very much because Noor has other things to think about!) The book doesn't downplay their conditions; no one is going to magically get better, and for most of the book, I honestly thought that Wyatt would just die suddenly because his body rejected his heart. Spoiler alert: he doesn't. The kids aren't all "everything is sunshine and roses", but they aren't all gloom and doom, either. They are... agitated about their conditions in a way that seems very realistic for middle grade. Violet and her mother have a lot of friction in their relationship, and oh, boy, would I like to see way more of that in books. What middle school student doesn't occasionally get super irritated with a parent? I also enjoyed the connivery of gaming the Wish on a Star system because they were all kind of irritated with all of the mailings as well as the idea that they were to be pitied and deserved a treat for being ill. Bravo. This is probably my favorite book by Sumner, who also has the very strong Maid for It and Roll With It. 
Weaknesses: This could have been just the tiniest bit shorter. The story bogged down a little in the middle, but since it has a strong start, I think readers won't mind. 
What I really think: The sad books that my students DO ask for are ones where the characters have things happen to them that are more horrible than are happening to my readers, and show that it is possible to survive and thrive through these circumstances. Wish You Well does that beautifully, and has some nice romance on top of it. I can see this book circulatingly steadily for a long time. 

Baines, Becky. How to Do (Almost) Everything: 100 Skills for Curious Kids

September 1, 2026 by What on Earth!

E ARC provided by Publishers Spotlight

As the conversation around frequent use of computers and students continues to shed light on how unhelpful screen time is for children, a book like How to Do (Almost) Everything is extremely helpful. Kids get bored. Parents don't know what to do. With a book like this, the work is easy. Young readers will page through the book until they find something that speaks to them and seems doable, and then spent several hours on that endeavor. 

There's a lot to choose from, and I love that the book starts with a safety warning, although as a member of Gen X, it did make me giggle a bit. I'm pretty sure my best friend should not have spent the hours that she did learning to light a match on her jeans zipper, but she did! There's also a note about seeking help and martialling resources. After that, there are over fifty different ways to spend one's time. 

These are not broken down into categories, which I would have liked, but do span a range. There are some things that are basic and important, like how to maintain a bike, predict weather, or cook an egg. My 88 year old father learned this last skill only weeks before his death, so let's make sure that everyone over the age of 10 gets instruction in this! There are some activities that are just fun and useful, like flying a kite (I remember learning to make a kite at school in the fourth grade!), interpreting Morse code and airplane signals, and skimming stones. A few are odd, like performing the Star Trek greeting, dancing the Macarena, miming walking down a staircase, and nature bathing. Nature bathing sounds intriguing, but seems aimed at people who aren't outside very much. 

Some topics have more information than others; there's a lot about constellations, but some items are addressed as quick "how-tos". This makes perfect sense. When I was a child, I would have read this entire book several times, then started methodically trying out all of the skills. This is probably why I wanted to see activities placed into categories (cooking, outdoor activities, fixing things, etc.),  but not everyone will feel a need to be this regimented. 

How to Do (Almost) Everything would make an excellent gift for a young person in your life who is curious and active. To make it even better, go through the book WITH the recipient and find some activities that you can do together. Once you finish this, you can move on to Miller's Everything You Need to Know When You Are 10 or Storey Publishing's Backpack Explorer series.