Skydancer's Escape

Ruby Wishfingers #1

by Deborah Kelly, Leigh Hedstrom (Illustrations)

Ruby Wishfingers is an ordinary girl ... except for her extraordinary name. One day she wakes with a strange feeling in the tips of her fingers and discovers she has inherited a marvellous gift: the power to wish for whatever she wants! But wishes don't always turn out quite how you expect ... Come with Ruby on a magical adventure. Meet a talking cat, experience jelly bean rain and chase a runaway, pocket-sized unicorn! Life is extraordinarily fun with Ruby Wishfingers

Genres: Childrens

96 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2016

Reviews

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, fun, fun book about a nine-year-old girl who wonders about her unusual surname: Wishfingers. Life goes on fairly normally with school and homework and strawberry jam sandwiches until the morning Ruby wakes up and her fingers are buzzing and humming.

A disastrous decision follows as she realises her wishing fingers are activated - at least for a time. She wishes that her stuffed toy unicorn, Skydancer, was real. She didn't count on Skydancer being hungry - or that his favourite food would be prized antique tablecloths. Or that Skydancer's poo would be like glittery pom-poms.

Trying to avert one disaster brings on others. And each time there is one, Ruby's wishes slide further on that countdown to zero. The house is a shambles when she looks to her grandmother for help...

A delightful chapter book for young primary school girls.

[R.J. Rodda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny story about a girl called Ruby Wishfingers who discovers her fingers are magical. She promptly wishes her cuddly pink unicorn teddy to life and things rapidly get out of her control. With everything from
chocolate finger biscuit fences and colourful unicorn pom pom poo there is lots here to delight your child's imagination. A small number of illustrations enhance the text of this chapter book.

Thank you to Netgalley for satisfying my curiosity about this book (I kept seeing it around) and providing me with a copy to review. The opinions are my own.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a the story of a girl who gets 10 wishes, because her fingers have magic, from time to time. This is basically a wishes gone wrong story. And , there is nothing wrong with that as a theme, because, as with all wishes gone wrong, each new wish makes things worse. A classic case of that is The Five Children and It, one of my all time favorite books.

So, why is this book just three stars then? Because of the Deux ex Macina solution. She has basically turned her back yard into a candy land, her stuffed unicorn into a living unicorn, and destroyed half the house. The "god in machine" is her grandmother who just happens to have occasional magic fingers too, and so helps Ruby fix everything,, everything, that is, except for the talking cat.

Apparently this is the start of a series, so perhaps it is just off to a rocky start.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Steffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Wombat Books for the digital reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

One day Ruby discovers a tickling in her fingers and discovers that she has a magical gift. From that point things go crazy.

This has been a fantastic children's story. I enjoyed the story and the little illustrations a lot. The story was really cute and funny, it made me laugh out loud several times.
I can't wait to read more of Ruby's adventures.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruby's family has a special power, they can grant wishes. On the day Ruby's powers manifest, she makes a wish for her stuffed unicorn toy, Skydancer, to become a real unicorn. Turns out, unicorn-wrangling isn't easy.

I really liked the story. Ruby seems like a normal well-adjusted 9-year-old who just discovered she can make her wishes come true. She learns the hard way that sometimes what you wish for isn't good for you and she deals with it. She could run off, but she deals with the mess she made and I really like that about her.

[Nicki Jeffery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! So imaginative, well written and inspiring. Well done Deborah. I'm keen to read the whole series.

[Nita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute book, Ruby is vibrant and fun. But she's also a very relatable little girl for readers. The premise is captivating and delivered with energy and whimsy.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ruby Wishfingers: Skydancer's Escape" which I won through Goodreads Giveaways is a delightfully amusing story that begins with an ordinary girl with an extraordinary name who gets ten wishes after feeling a tingle in her fingertips. Bringing her pink stuffed unicorn with flowing purple mane to life with her first wish she begins a magical journey that has her changing her backyard into a candy land, experiencing a jellybean rain and meeting a talking cat. When the marvels of her gift get out of control, she calls on her grandmother to use her magic to set everything right.

In this magical adventure children learn that the impossible is possible and that everyone is special in their own unique way. The plot is imaginative and well-developed, the illustrations beautifully-crafted as Ruby an ordinary girl with a special name realizes her potential when she discovers her magical gift. I liked the way that magic isn't the answer to all the problems it creates, that only with hard work can Ruby set her home back in order.

I liked "Ruby Wishfingers: Skydancer's Escape" and will gladly add this book to my local library's children's collection as well as looking for other Ruby Wishfinger adventures to share.

[Wyldrabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruby Wishfingers is an ordinary girl ... except for her extraordinary name. One day she wakes with a strange feeling in the tips of her fingers and discovers she has inherited a marvellous gift: the power to wish for whatever she wants! But wishes don't always turn out quite how you expect ... Come with Ruby on a magical adventure. Meet a talking cat, experience jelly bean rain and chase a runaway, pocket-sized unicorn! Life is extraordinarily fun with Ruby Wishfingers.

Deborah Kelly's Ruby Wishfingers was a real treat to read. Her character, Ruby made me want to wish for a little girl to read it to. Her choices of candy rain and a real purple stuffed unicorn were to me, reasonable! This is a story I would be happy to not only recommend buy purchase for my great niece. If your community has a summer reading program, like mine does, I would gladly put this book on the list of book for them to use. Great moral to the story, Be careful what you wish for! Although, I still think I could handle a purple unicorn that shook glitter.
*I was given this e-book for an honest review

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruby Wishfingers was not sure where her unusual name came from until the morning her fingers started to tingle. She immediately found her grandma and asked her about it. She finds out that she has the power to make wishes come true. The only problem is that sometimes what you wish for does not turn out the way the you had hoped and trying to fix it just makes it worse.

Ruby is a typical little girl who loves her stuffed unicorn and wishes it becomes real, wishes for a candy garden and more. When things get out of control, she goes to an adult for help, this just happens to be her grandmother who has magical powers. A cute story that little girls will love. The lesson of being happy with what you have got is quite apparent.

This book would make a good addition to a school or late primary class library. A great gift for the little girl in your life as well.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got offered a copy of this via netgalley in exchange for an honest review so I thought I'd try reading it with our daughter (age 6)
The plan was to read a couple of chapters each evening over the week until finished however the first time we picked it up we ended up enjoying the story so much that when we stopped reading it turned out we had read half the book