Lark's Wish

By Julie Young

A foster child, who longs to have a loving family, fears that will never happen, so she wishes for a special friend, one who can be with her no matter where she lives. A magical fox fulfills that wish. Together, they find love and their forever homes.

Kirkus GET IT Review

young girl and a fox kit magically find what they have lost-home and family-in Young's illustrated middle-grade novel.

With a touch of magic grounded in real-life drama, this work of juvenile fiction, colorfully illustrated in an expressive cartoon style by Iancu, opens as 11-year-old Lark arrives at her latest foster home. Her only possessions are a few tattered but treasured "thrift store finds and hand-me-downs." Lark's new foster parents seem nice, but can she trust them? After wishing on a shooting star for a magical friend, Lark sees a fox kit outside her new bedroom window. Two more shooting stars form "a sparkling heart in the sky," and Lark and the fox, who's lost her parents and siblings in a recent forest fire, shimmer in response, connected in their need for love and family. Eventually, a crisis leads to understanding and trust as both Lark and the fox find what they're yearning for. The engaging story is told from the perspectives of both characters, and poetic similes leaven the seriousness: The fox, now able to speak, has a voice as "faint as a feather floating across the grass"; her fur is "like a shiny penny dipped in candy cane." (To the fox, Lark smells "like sunflowers swirling in honey.") The fox's name, Gypsy, is a misstep; the term is widely regarded as disparaging, and the offense is compounded by the mother fox's reason for choosing it. She explains that Gypsies "were crafty humans who loved to dance under the moonlight and sing vibrant songs until the sun rose." According to Young's biographical note, the author is a former elementary school teacher and a foster parent. Her knowledge of what many children in the foster care system go through-multiple placements, confusion, fear, mistreatment-informs this book, sometimes resulting in a more visceral effect than might be expected in a story for younger middle school readers.

A flawed, but heartfelt and effective, reminder of the countless children in need of caring stability.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GKFJFYTL
• ISBN13: 9798999883209
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Curly Toes Creations
• Length: 102 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"