The Wishing Star

This is the first title in the Playdate Adventures series, written by debut author Emma Beswetherick with the aim of providing exciting and inspiring adventure stories featuring girls for the 5-8 age range. The Wishing Star tells the story of the first playdate adventure featuring Katy, Cassie and Zia, all friends in Year 3 at school, together with Katy’s cat Thunder. When the girls build a rocket out of recycled waste the power of their imagination makes their planned adventure come to life and they find themselves transported to outer space in a life-sized rocket heading for the Wishing Star. Here the four travellers are granted planet-saving wishes before zooming back to Katy’s bedroom in time for tea.

This is a lively, contemporary, and engaging new series for newly confident readers with positive themes of empowering girls to have adventures, supportive friendship, imagination, and care for the environment, all presented in an accessible style with appealing illustrations.