Families who loved The Wish List by Eoin Colfer often look for books with a similar feel. These 20 recommendations were selected for their similarity in style, theme, and reading level.
Reach for this book when your teenager is struggling with the weight of past mistakes or feeling defined by their worst choices. This supernatural adventure tackles the heavy concept of redemption with a clever, darkly humorous lens that appeals to reluctant readers. It follows Meg Finn, a tough girl who dies during a botched robbery and finds herself literally balanced between heaven and hell. To save her soul, she must return to Earth as a ghost to help an elderly man she once wronged complete his bucket list. While it deals with death and an abusive home life, the story emphasizes that it is never too late to try and balance the scales through genuine kindness and accountability. It is an excellent choice for sparking conversations about the complexity of human nature and the idea that being a good person is a series of active choices rather than a fixed state.