Frankly, this is a wonderful book with a redemptive message, spot-on pacing, and compelling characters with believable motivations, actions, and transformations. The concern the reader feels for Pong and his situation keeps the pages turning. The imagery of the light and dark woven into the setting and the theme is poignant.

Categorizing this book into a single genre was a little difficult; while it does have a fantasy element, it also felt like straight-up fiction, or perhaps even historical fiction with nods in the setting to Thailand, and things clipped along with so much peril that it felt like an action or adventure story. In short, this book should have something for almost everyone and anyone. A Newbery Honor Book, A Wish in the Dark deserves the accolades and to be at the top of your reading list.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: None

Violence/Gore: Two girls beat up two younger boys (not an actual scene, but in the next chapter of the book, the two boys have injuries); report of deaths in childbirth; report/brief description of sparing match; report of a scar on the hand; character is chased; verbal threats; character uses staff to hit authority figure in the groin; character uses powers/martial arts skill to knock over several individuals; fire resulting in destruction and a death; confrontation between two large groups of people, verbal threats, individual thrown off a bridge.

Sex/Nudity: Innuendo about someone not being the child of their mother; character learns that their parent had an affair and they were born out of wedlock; reference to butt crack showing.

Mature Subject Manner:

Orphans, prisons/imprisonment, poverty, theft, laws/tyranny, economic discrimination.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

None