A sometimes funny, sometimes magical first novel, The Wishing Box explores the surprising and unintended consequences of getting what you ask for. Julia, an almost-30 single mom whose life is mostly together, lives in Oakland with her seven-year-old son. Never suspecting it will actually work, she and her sister create a wishing box and half-seriously hold a ceremony for the return of the father who abandoned them as children. Astonishingly, he comes backbut Julia's life has already moved abruptly in a new direction, and she has taken off in much the same way her father had many years before. Julia and her unusual family are at the heart of this novel about appearances and disappearances, the desire to control the future and explain the past, and the legacies passed on from one generation to another.

It was two days after Christmas, and Penny's first thought was 'If you can't trust your best friend, who can you trust?' So she gave the Wishing Box to her best friend Elizabeth. Or...PRINCESS Elizabeth, as she was soon known in her kingdom of Southern California where she ruled over all the dragons and beasties and even Penny herself.

Penny Dora spent most of the fourth day of Christmas trapped in the wrecked remains of the castle with her former best friend (aka Princess Elizabeth). With the Wishing Box lost in the rubble and dragons now raining fire down on the once quiet town of Cuesta Verde outside, to say things were not looking good was probably an understatement.

On the third day of Christmas, Penny Dora found herself face-to-face with a horde of fire-breathing dragons, oodles of monsters, and at least seven dwarves. All thanks to the girl she used to call best friend, now known as Princess Elizabeth, who ruled over all the lands with her all-powerful Wishing Box.

Once upon a time, on the day before Christmas, a young girl named Penny Dora found a mysterious box on her front doorstep. A magic box with the power to grant wishes. But what she's about to learn is the true (and creepy) meaning of 'be careful what you wish for.' An all-ages fantasy/adventure book for fans of Coraline and Courtney Crumrin!

This short play presents the story of a wishing box made by an absent-minded inventor. The wishing box holds power to transform a person into somebody else by stepping into it. But gradually, things turn chaotic after the inventor introduces the box to the world. What happens next unfolds later in this exciting play. This two-act Christmas play is full of witty dialogues, intriguing characters, and a gripping plot. It doesn't require any expensive costumes or sets, making it perfect to be performed at small gatherings and school functions.

While T.C. Boyle is known as one of our greatest American novelists, he is also an acknowledged master of the short story and is perhaps at his funniest, his most moving, and his most surprising in the short form. In The Relive Box, Boyle's sharp wit and rich imagination combine with a penetrating social consciousness to produce raucous, poignant, and expansive short stories defined by an inimitable voice. From the collection's title story, featuring a Halcom X1520 Relive Box that allows users to experience anew almost any moment from their past to "The Five-Pound Burrito," the tale of a man aiming to build the biggest burrito in town, the twelve stories in this collection speak to the humor, the pathos, and the struggle that is part of being human while relishing the whimsy of wordplay and the power of a story well told. In stories that span a variety of styles and genres, Boyle addresses the enduring concerns of the human mind and heart while taking on timely social concerns. The Relive Box is an exuberant, linguistically dazzling effort from a "vibrant sensibility fully engaged with American society." (The New York Times)