Here are only a few of the wonderful, strange, and mysterious elements in this breathtaking visit to the Kingdoms and Empires: A very proper girl named Lillian Velvet, living a very lonely life with a nasty Grandmother. A jar of coins, each with the power to take Lillian on a journey to a different time and place...and also to grant a single wish. A small boy in a barn about to be crushed to death by a load of hay. A family, each member in mortal...

"Rosie: Capricorn. Does great in class. Wants nothing more than to get into the prestigious Innovation Technical Institute and kiss this awful school goodbye. Her talisman: a magical jacket from her mother's past that gets people to do whatever she says. Caro: Leo. Rosie's older sister. Always been closer to their estranged father - and always butted heads more with their strict mother. A trip to Dominican Republic for her father's wedding leads her...

When Richie accidentally wrecks a sleigh full of presents for needy children, he wishes he'd never been born. He gets more than he bargained for when Professor Keenbean's Wishing Machine actually makes his wish come true. Now he's caught in the middle of an upside-down world where nothing's the way he remembers it, and no one remembers him either.

"Sadie Thatcher's life has fallen apart in spectacular fashion. In one fell swoop, she managed to lose her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend-all thanks to her big mouth. So when a fortune teller offers her one wish, Sadie jumps at the chance to redo her awful year. Deep down, she doesn't believe magic will fix her life, but taking a leap of faith, Sadie makes her wish, opens her eyes, and . . . nothing has changed. And then, in perhaps her dumbest...