Drei Kinder, Polly, Rowena und Adam, treffen zusammen mit dem örtlichen Ladenbesitzer Stew Meat auf dem Kirchmarkt auf den mysteriösen und scharfäugigen Thaddeus Blinn. Er bietet ihnen an, jeden Wunsch für nur 50 Cent zu erfüllen. Was folgt, ist die uralte Lektion darüber, vorsichtig zu sein, was man sich wünscht!
Die Schüler können die verschiedenen Themen, Symbole und Motive von The Wish Giver verfolgen und eine Spinnenkarte erstellen, um Beispiele zu veranschaulichen
Storyboard-Text
CON-ARTISTS
"Oh, Henry, whatever happened to all the nice things you used to tell me ... if I'm at all special to you ... ?"
THE COVEN TREE
Town of Coven Tree
WASSER
The Wish Giver seems to be somewhat of a con-artist because as his wishes do come true, they always come with a heavy price. However, the main con artist in the story is Henry Piper who lavishes attention on Rowena, enticing her to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, he was only using her to sell more machinery.
Special? That's a laugh, I'd have said you were Cleopatra if that's what I had to do. Anything so you'd tell your papa how nice I was and I could sell him more machinery!"
The town of Coven Tree is named because of a tree where it is said that a coven of witches used to gather years ago, before the Salem Witch trials. The tree is a recurring feature in the book as it is seen in every episode. It represents the magic that has bewitched characters by the mysterious wish giver.
Water is featured in different ways: the creek where Polly plays and catches fish with Lenora and Leland and also in Adam's story. Adam struggles with hauling water every day to his parched family farm. When he wishes for "more water than he needs" instead of the life giving water he was wishing for, he gets destructive water that floods the entire farm and turns it into a lake!