It’s My Turn
Wanda O’Connell loves to play on the monkey bars at the local park. She can be found there every day of the week hogging the equipment for hours on end. Jane Chambers loves the monkey bars too. She only wishes that Wanda would learn to give others a turn.

Finder’s Weepers
Brian Law is a bully. He gets an immense amount of pleasure from making other children’s lives miserable. His latest victim is Darcy Longboat, the new kid in school. Brian doesn’t like Darcy because of the doll he always carries from his belt. During gym class Brian decides to steal Darcy’s doll while he is in the shower. Brian’s actions have severe consequences and we are about to find out that The Old Toyman’s toys don’t like being stolen and take on a life of their own.

The Black & White Shoeshine Company
Robert and Mario have been best friends at school for four years. They are virtually inseparable and even have a little shoeshine business outside the local barbershop after school. Each day after they pack away their brushes and bootblack they go their separate ways. Their fathers hate each other. They have never met, but their racism runs very deep. Robert and Mario wish their fathers could swap places, if only for a day.

Be careful what you wish for …
Cori Benson is at that awkward age. Between being a little girl and a young woman. One night, while holding her “Patty Penguin” doll she wishes that God could move her progression along.

Ice Cream Castles In the Air
Seven year old Rebecca Hailey loves her older sister Sarah a lot. So much, in fact, that when she discovers that Sarah needs a tonsillectomy she wishes that her big sister will be fine and have enough ice cream.

A Fine Line
Jake Waters wakes up one morning and discovers he is obsessing over his friend, Melinda. She is in his thoughts throughout the day, in his dreams at night and he can never get enough of her. When they are actually together he feels comforted and unstable at the same time. Jake Waters is in love. After weeks of this enraptured turmoil he turns to his life long toy “Orville Otter” and wishes to discover he feelings toward him. There is one hitch though. Jake is forty-seven. Even though Jake is well over the maximum age rule of fifteen, The Old Toyman makes an exception. Firstly, because Jake has never wished on Orville in the forty years he has owned him and secondly, who can resist a good love story.

Brittany’s Tale
Brittany Wells is a ten year old girl who has grown up amidst uncontrollable hardships. At home she is unconditionally loved by her parents and big sister Annie, but at school she is constantly picked on and ridiculed. Just for who, and what, she is. Brittany has Down’s Syndrome and that has always made her an easy target for bullies. Annie loves her sister and wishes for everyone to see her sister as she does. A warm, funny delightful person with loads to offer.

Just Once
Alison Walker is a spectacular athlete for a girl of ten years old. She already has a curio cabinet full of trophies, medals and ribbons. She is well aware that she is bound for greatness. Mary Baines has competed against Alison all her life and never beaten her. Mary knows that Alison is a better athlete, but that is little consolation for her parents who want her to go to the Olympics. Alison is also an astute little girl. She sees the years of effort weighing heavy on her competitor’s shoulder’s. One day, before the biggest track meet of her life, she wishes that Mary could win just once.

Know Thy Ancestors
Martin Scholfield has grown to the age of twelve in the local orphanage. All he knows about his family is that he is of Jewish descent. It is now time for him to be Bar Mitzvahed and become a man, but first he wishes to meet his parents.

One More Day
Katie Parsons mother is about to give birth to a son. It is a difficult time for both of them
because Katie’s father died in a traffic accident two months before.

Promises, Promises, Promises
A girl waits at the front door for her father’s visitation. While she waits she wishes that her father would know just how important this visit is and promises aren’t good enough.

Make It All Go Away
A young girl is raped on her way home from school. While trying to cope with the situation her father blames her for what happened and her mother withdraws. Her schoolmates taunt and tease her and she wishes to “make it all go away.”

Easy Street
Sharon Richards younger brother Jason has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Put there by their domineering father. Jack Richards is a work-a-day grunt in a factory and he wants his son to be more than he is. Even for Sharon the pressure is to much to bear and one day she takes hold of her Freddie Fish doll and wishes that Jason’s road to personal success, in their father’s eyes, would be easy and her brother still finds what he needs.

The Matchmaker
Kathy Davis has had a very special childhood. She has never wanted for anything. It hasn’t been easy for her father who lost Kathy’s mother shortly after Kathy was born. Kathy loves her dad and wants him to know how much she appreciates everything he’s done for her. One night just after she says her prayers she holds her toy close to her heart and wishes that her father find true love.

Grandma’s Magic Cupboard
Erin Roberts loves it when her parents take her and her brother over to their grandparents. It is a smallish apartment and it smells funny, but there is one room that always fascinates her. Every time she visits, her Grandma will walk into her closet off the living room and always come out with gifts for everyone. Erin wishes that this time there would be one for her Grandma.

Oh Yeah … Really.
Miss Thrush’s sixth grade class has recently been learning about the political system. Every day they read through the first section of the newspaper and discuss what they find in the news concerning their local politicians. For Sean O’Malley the more he learns the more he distrusts politicians. One day the class is reading about the annual expense accounting at city hall. It doesn’t make sense to Sean that one councillor can spend $1,000 for the entire year while another spends $45,000. He looks at his ever-present Marty Moose toy and wishes that politicians would honestly accounts for their expenses.

The Real Christmas
No one in the city goes to The Flats unless they really must. It is a rundown area of the city that is so destitute that an enormous influx of money would only raise it from decrepit to rundown. Warren Young has spent all of his 8 years living there. His family has almost nothing and the welfare doesn’t even allow them to get by. Christmas is coming and once again he is bombarded by advertisers wanting him to part with the money he doesn’t have. They think he’ll have a better Christmas. Warren lost his Yuletide innocence years ago and while holding his Barry Beaver toy, the only thing that is truly his, he wishes that Christmas was not so commercial and everyone could enjoy it.