The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
Published
by O’Brien Press Ltd., 2000
ISBN 0862786584
First
Review: by Kilkee Library Children’s Book Club
This
‘unputdownable’ book was enjoyed by everyone in the
club.
Fourteen year old Meg Finn is in serious trouble – she and
her ‘partner in crime’, Belch are dead!
Belch
is evil and goes to hell, where all the bad guys go but Meg on the
other hand has an equal amount of good and evil in her. She has
to redeem herself to get into heaven. To do this she must return
to the world of Lowrie McCall, the man she and Belch tried to rob
and help him do/undo his deepest regrets or his wish list. The story
doesn’t end there however as the devil wants Meg in hell and
sends back Belch as a Soul man to make Meg fail and to get her soul.
This
is a very humorous book but it also has its sad moments. We gave
it ten out of ten and the book club will definitely read more books
by this author. Some of the children said they would enjoy reading
this book again!
There
is lots of detail in it and it may be more suitable for older readers
aged ten and up.
Favourite
funny scenes:
- The
way Lowrie and Meg get into R.T.E. and the scene where he kisses
Sissy.
-
Beezlebub has to release Belch and Elph from the holding cell, when
they have both shorted out.
-
When they break into Croke Park and realise they don’t have
a football to kick.
Second Review:
by Kilmihil Children’s Book Club
This is the story of 14 year old Meg Finn. The book
begins with her and her accomplice, a bully named Belch breaking
into a pensioner’s house. Things go wrong when Lowrie, the
pensioner is awakened and they go from bad to worse when Belch blows
both Meg and himself to kingdom come.
Both of them die and Belch is sent straight to hell.
Meg however, having done her best to save Lowrie’s life is
half and half good and bad and so she is between Heaven and Hell.
She has to return to Earth and try to help Lowrie – the man
she wronged, to complete his wish list, so that her aura can turn
blue and she can go to Heaven.
The devil however has plans for Meg and wants her
to fail so he sends Belch back to Earth to get her.
The book was not enjoyed by the majority of children
in the group. They found the subject of death and hell quite disturbing
and the violence toward Lowrie at the beginning of the story was
gory, though some did find some parts of the book quite funny.
Kilmihil
Book Club members had read Eoin Colfer’s Benny and Babe
previously and had expected The Wish List to be a similar
read. They found it to be a totally different type of story. |