WISHING MOON

In this captivating original sequel to Aladdin, the genie gets a real workout when its lamp falls into the hands of an orphaned street child. Fourteen-year-old Aminah’s bleak future takes a wild turn for the better when an old lamp sails out of the palace window and hits her on the head. But rather than use her wishes to live in splendor or to punish enemies, Aminah flummoxes the genie by searching out decent-hearted people engaged in helping the poor and endowing them with magical abilities. Predictably, the petulant, mercurial genie—who tends to show anger by spitting snakes, or blowing up its own head—steals the show, but Aminah puts in a sturdy performance too, as an idealistic but not entirely naïve do-gooder with a temper of her own, and plenty of gumption. Modern sounding dialogue—“I wish you’d settle down!”—and the genie’s breezily cryptic references to pizza, New York, and other items from Aminah’s future give the tale a contemporary tone without spoiling the Arabian Nights flavor. Tunnell adds suspense with a subplot involving the efforts of Aladdin’s evil wife to recover the lamp, and closes with a perfectly executed twist. (Fiction. 11-15)