Joha Makes a Wish

Eric A. Kimmel. Joha Makes a Wish. Illustrated by Omar Rayyan. Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010. 40 pages. $17.99 ISBN 9780761455998

Joha makes a wish is a story about being happy with what you have. One day while walking to Baghdad, Joha stumbles upon a wishing stick. Joha thinks for a moment and decides to wish for a new pair of leather shoes to replace his old sandals, but alas his sandals disappear and no new shoes replace them. Disgruntled, Joha wishes the stick would disappear, but it remains stuck to his hand instead. He continues his walk to Baghdad barefoot and stuck with the wishing stick. Joha’s wishes continue to go badly until he is forced to flee the palace guard after causing the sultan’s nose to erupt in warts when he wished for the sultan’s wart to disappear. Joha stumbles upon a kind old man he hides him and explains that the reason Joha’s wishes are not working is because he is holding the wishing stick upside down. Joha corrects his mistake and wishes for his sandals back. Viola! His sandals are returned to him and he sets off for the palace to fix the king’s warts. After eliminating the warts on the sultan’s face the king rewards Joha with a donkey, but takes Joha’s wishing stick for himself. Joha did not intend to give the sultan his wishing stick and as he rode away on his donkey wonders if he should have explained to the sultan how the wishing stick worked. The sultan never figures out how to use the wishing stick, but learns his lesson about taking what does not belong to him.