The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice by Rachel Chivers Khoo

Children’s literature often finds a basis in hope and Rachel Chivers Khoo offers hope in the form of wishes and a delightful Wishkeeper!
Read on for her blog all about the power of Hope in stories.

 

The Power of Hope-filled Stories

 

I’ve always thought that ‘wishful thinking’ is not something to be looked down on. Wishes provide us with brief moments of pure hope: blowing out birthday candles, snapping a wishbone or tossing a penny into a fountain. In those moments we squeeze our eyes shut, make a wish and suddenly a world of possibilities opens up.

In The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice, hope is measured by a wish-statistical machine called a Wishfulness Gauge.  Rupus Beewinkle, the Wishkeeper of Whittlestone, is keeping a close eye on his gauge, since the dial has been dropping lower and lower every day for weeks. Each morning, Rupus wakes to a fresh list of wish snags and spends his day working hard to fix the wishes that are going wrong. This leaves him with very little time to grant new wishes, and so the wishkeeping paperwork continues to pile up on his desk.

He finds help in the form of Felix Jones, a very ordinary boy who agrees to become Rupus’s apprentice. As Felix quickly learns, making wishes come true isn’t easy. Wishes need to be collected, granted, maintained and protected. Wishkeeping requires diligence, perseverance and most importantly hope.Unbeknown Rupus and Felix, a ferocious wishsnatcher is prowling the streets of Whittlestone, attacking wishes and looking for a chance to destroy Rupus once and for all. Felix must find a way to hold onto hope and save the wishes of Whittlestone before it’s too late.

 

The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice is published by Walker Books and is available now.

 

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.

 

When I set about writing a book about wishes I knew I wanted to explore the importance of hope and the role it plays in our lives, especially in childhood. My greatest wish is that the story will encourage young readers to wish boldly and to hold onto their dreams.