Nervous about starting at a new school, Stevie quickly adjusts, in large part due to his wonderful teacher. Miss Perry has a different “fondest wish” each day, whether it’s that everyone will quiet down so she can read the next chapter of James and the Giant Peach, or that they’ll all join her in a march to the office to sing “Happy Birthday” to the principal. One day Miss Perry isn’t at school when the Stevie arrives. The principal spends the morning with the class while other teachers keep stopping by, obviously upset. After lunch, the children return to find their parents waiting in the classroom. That’s when they are told that Miss Perry was killed in a car accident on the way to school that morning. In the aftermath of the news, as the children try to make sense of what it means and how they feel, the principal and school counselor encourage them to share their memories of Miss Perry, and ask what her fondest wish for them would be. Pat Brisson’s remarkable, sensitive picture book is something to consider for any child who has experienced loss. (Ages 5–8)

It's his first day at a new school, and Stevie is scared.Who will he talk to at lunchtime? But his teacher says, "It is my fondest wish that you join me for lunch today, Stevie."And with that, a bad day becomes a good one. Miss Perry always has a new fondest wish--something new to read, sing, celebrate. But then an awful thing happens: Miss Perry dies in a car accident, and everything is suddenly sad and complicated.Yet Stevie and his classmates must find their way to happiness again. It would surely be Miss Perry's fondest wish.

Pat Brisson and Stéphane Jorisch have created a poignant story, appropriate for children coping with a teacher's death or in need of comfort after any loss. Readers of all ages will be affected by its depth and honesty, and buoyed by its capacity for joy.