Everyday Angel 3 – Last Wishes

Victoria Schwab's Last Wishes is the third Everyday Angel book, a gentle magical story for 8 year olds about a guardian angel and a dancer who's forgotten how to enjoy dancing.

What happens

Aria looks like an ordinary twelve-year-old with curly red hair and purple boots. She's actually an angel. Before she gets her wings she has to help three girls, and this is the last one. She knows who needs her because only she can see the blue smoke curling around them.

This time the smoke is wrapped around Mikayla Stevens. Mikayla has just won gold at a big dance championship, and she looks miserable about it.

She dances six days a week. Her dad has lost his job, and packing boxes keep appearing all over their Brooklyn home. Her prize money gets left quietly next to the bills. And everything seems to ride on one audition for a dance academy that pays for everything. (No pressure, then.)

So Aria turns up at Mikayla's school, and then at her dance class, where she has no idea what a plié is. Her dancing is messy and joyful, and watching it makes Mikayla feel sad in a way she can't quite explain.

The chapters swap between the two girls, so you get Mikayla's worries and Aria's wonder side by side. Aria is seeing a big city for the very first time. The subway, the skyscrapers and the flowers that open up as she walks past are all brand new to her, and that's a lovely thing to read.

It's worth knowing that Mikayla is very hard on herself. She stands in front of mirrors listing everything wrong with her body. She turns down a celebration hot chocolate because she "couldn't afford to put on weight", and her dance teacher is harsh. For a child who already worries about how they look, that might sting a bit.

For a hardworking child who's started to lose the fun in a hobby they used to love, though, it could be just the right story. There's a lot here about friends you've drifted away from and what winning is really for.

What to read next

If they'd like to see how it all began, New Beginnings is Aria's very first mission, helping a girl called Gabby. Just so you know, Gabby's big brother is seriously ill in hospital from the first chapter.