When 12-year-old Peter Stone’s family moves to the Hill Country, he makes a friend who’s battling cancer near a magical valley. That’s the basis for author Nikki Loftin’s young adult novel Wish Girl (Razorbill, 2015), which last fall represented Texas at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
“Wish Girl is my love letter to Texas, a celebration of everything I loved about the Hill Country when I was growing up in it,” says Loftin, a member of Pedernales Electric Cooperative and Government-in-Action Youth Tour alumna who lives near Dripping Springs.
“When I started writing, I knew the main characters would need a magical setting in which to struggle, grow closer and learn about the deeper magic of true friendship. The valley in Wish Girl is a real place, where I spent my childhood summers watching turkey vultures soar, listening to the wind, and feeling like a Texan Alice in my own uninhabited wonderland.”
