Product Description

Nine-year-old Polly and her younger brother, Sam, find a corked bottle at the beach. Inside is an ancient parchment promising three wishes. Before their adventure is over, older brother Joe will disappear and Polly and Sam will have to journey under the sea to get him back! This first book in the new Magic Elements quartet combines magic and adventure in an easy-to-read format perfect for the in-between reader.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #744712 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-25
• Released on: 1999-05-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From Publishers Weekly
With water as its theme, the inaugural volume of The Magic Elements Quartet drowns in extraneous detail, sodden dialogue and a plot that is anything but watertight. While vacationing at the beach, 10-year-old Polly and seven-year-old Sam spot a glass bottle bobbing in the water; a note inside promises to grant three wishes. After several failed attempts, Polly makes a wishto become a mermaidthat comes true. Though the sequence of events gets murky, next the siblings 13-year-old brother, Joe, apparently gets hold of the bottle and is granted his wish to become Neptune. Meanwhile, Polly and Sam discover that his transformation seems to have wiped out everyone elses memory of their older brother. The plot becomes even sillier as Polly and Sam make their final wishto locate Joeand transform, respectively, into a mermaid (again) and an octopus, and find themselves in an underwater city; the rules that applied to Pollys wish (she reverted to her normal body after 24 hours) dont apply to Joes situation. Outlandish without being at all magical, this tale is summed up in a comment that Polly makes when she and Sam, so engrossed in their new serpentine identities, forget all about their mission to find Joe: Were wasting time! she exclaims. Readers of this washed-out tale will likely feel the same way. Ages 8-10.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-A poorly imagined fantasy. Ten-year-old Polly and her 7-year-old brother, Sam, nearly drown while trying to retrieve a bottle bobbing temptingly on the ocean waves, but are saved by their surly, no-longer-fun-to-play-with teen-aged brother, Joe. They are disappointed when they can't find the bottle afterwards, and more than a little surprised when they discover it the next morning on Joe's dresser. Inside the bottle they find a note granting them three wishes "of this element," and after a little trial and error, they manage to get the promised fanciful adventure started. The upshot is Joe's disappearance, which no one seems to notice except for Polly and Sam, who have to figure out where he is and rescue him. There is nothing compelling about this story-the characters and dialogue are uninteresting and unconvincing, and the plot seems to have been constructed with convenience rather than logic in mind. For a classic story about wishes, try Edward Eager's Half Magic (Harcourt, 1954), or suggest Franny Billingsley's Well Wished (S & S, 1997) and Bill Brittain's The Wish Giver (HarperCollins, 1983).
Carrie Schadle, Beginning with Children School, New York City
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
A smooth, green bottle sparkling in the sun attracts the attention of seven-year-old Sam and his ten-year-old sister, Polly, while they are playing on the beach. But hard as they try to retrieve it, the bottle bobs out of reach in the ocean waves. Dismayed when their 13-year-old brother, Joe, turns up with the bottle, Sam and Polly snatch the treasure out of Joe's room, run to the beach, and soon begin an adventure that weaves fantasy, sibling rivalry, and themes of Peter Pan--never wanting to grow up--into an imaginative story. As the three sibs struggle with anger and jealousy over ownership of the bottle and distribution of the wishes it grants, they must cooperate with one another and learn to care about one another's feelings. However, it takes a hurricane and Polly's being turned into a mermaid, Sam's becoming an octopus, and Joe's transformation into a sea serpent to bring about this realization. A fun, exciting, and promising first book in the projected Magic Elements Quartet. Ellen Mandel

Customer Reviews

Water Wishes is WONDERFUL!!
Mallory Loehr's first story in this quartet is amazing. My second grade class fell in love with it. It is a great read aloud!! It's perfect for Magic Tree House readers who want more of a challenge. But it is unique and different from the Magic Tree House series. Water Wishes is full of "real" dialogue and rich language. Mallory Loehr has a rare knack for fully developing her characters through the dialogue, struggles with other characters, events and their settings. So many thoughts, ideas and memories will be stirred up by events in this book. It offers the reader (and teachers) a lot to think about. Teachers can use it to teach writing strategies like personification, developing a character through the setting, allusion, etc. OUTSTANDING!!!

readers will wish for more water wishes
This is a good fantasy for young readers, and there is a moral lesson at the end about sibling relationships. The older brother learns that he can't just boss around his little brother and sister. I like the dialogue, and the way the author weaves the fantasy in with the reality.

Enchanting............................
It all started when Sam and Polly were playing in front of their summer house on the ocean....As they were playing they see something mysterious floating along in the water,and imediatly they go to try and get it.But,when a large wave crashes on them,their 13-year old Brother Joe comes and rescues them,but they can't find the mysterious green bottle....Later while in Joe's room they see it!They figure Joe must have taken whlie they were underwater....So they devise a plan to get their bottle back.......After they get it they open it and it says That whoever snatches this bottle from the Ocean gets 3 wishes from the Element......Wow,3 wishes!!!!!!Even though Sam and Polly aren't sure what that means,but they try their wishes imediatly...They come up with many wishes-like wishes for beauty,fame,wealth,new cars,the ability to fly-But none of them work!!!!Then they go back out to the beach,and Polly kinda of flippetly says,"We might as well as wished for something silly,like to become a mermaid,or something like that!"....Well, a storm suddenly brews,and the waves crash,and one comes up and touches Polly's leg-And now she's a mermaid!!!!!!!They have to tell Joe about the wishes and what happened,But Joe has his own wish,and the next day he disapears,leaving no trace-except a comic book and a pair of sunglasses.......

I Loved this book-and I think its the best in the series!If you read them You kinda learn a little about Ancient Greek Gods,and the stories in this series are simply fun!!!!!!I recomened this seies to anyone-even adults,they're a quick and fun read!!!!!Hope this review was helpful to You!