Tre bambini, Polly, Rowena e Adam, insieme al proprietario di un negozio locale Stew Meat incontrano il misterioso e acuto Thaddeus Blinn alla fiera della chiesa. Si offre di esaudire qualsiasi desiderio desiderino per soli 50 centesimi. Quella che segue è la vecchia lezione sull'essere attenti a ciò che si desidera!
Gli studenti possono tenere traccia dei diversi temi, simboli e motivi presenti in The Wish Giver e creare una mappa del ragno per illustrare gli esempi
Testo Storyboard
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
ACQUA
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!