Ignoring the dangers, Kela enters the cave and discovers a small locked box, which mysteriously stops humming the moment Kela picks it up. Just then, Kela hears an odd, entrancing sound from a nearby off-limits cave. Kela has been keeping Lissy at arm’s length since her mother’s funeral so while Lissy tries her best to catch up with Kela, Kela is reluctant to play along. Kela runs into her estranged friend Lissy as she combs the shore for sea glass. We’re then introduced to Kela who’s still struggling with her anger and sadness over her mother’s recent and sudden death. Furious, she heads out to reclaim what is hers. We open onto a scene where a sea woman has just realized something precious has been taken.

Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate Jr box, one per post! Just a reminder that this will be a spoiler discussion for pages 1-87 of A Comb of Wishes.

If this is too much to fit into your day, absolutely no worries! Feel free to read at your own pace and come back when you're ready to discuss each section.

This averages out to about 50 pages per day from now until Friday. Our reading schedule for this book will be as follows: We featured this book in our ' FINDERS KEEPERS' box and we're so excited to dive into this beautiful story about wishes, consequences, and folklore. Hello and welcome all to the OwlCrate Jr Book Club Read-Along of our February 2021 book pick, A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow. And despite her hatred of all humans, her magic requires that she make a bargain: the comb in exchange for a wish.īut what Kela wants most is for her mother to be alive.All things are within my power if you are willing to pay the price. So when Kela and her friend Lissy stumble across an ancient-looking comb in a coral cave, with all she’s already lost, Kela can’t help but bring home her very own found treasure.įar away, deep in the cold ocean, the mermaid Ophidia can feel that her comb has been taken. Set on an invented Caribbean island, Lisa Stringfellow’s spellbinding and emotionally resonant middle grade debut tells of grieving twelve-year-old Kela, who unwittingly forms a connection to a fearsome mermaid who has the power to bring Kela's mother back to life.Ī mesmerizing debut novel, set against the backdrop of Caribbean folklore, about a grieving girl and a vengeful mermaid who both must grapple with impossible wishes, redemption, and magic formed in love.Įver since her mother’s death, Kela has felt every bit as broken as the shards of glass, known as “mermaid’s tears,” that sparkle on the Caribbean beaches of St.