From Publishers Weekly Princes in disguise， royal elves and book-loving ghosts all play a part in the seven stories of this intermittently promising collection. Throughout， debut author Turner's style is expansive， allowing for mood-setting details and for occasionally sharp wit， but most of her plots follow familiar， predictable patterns. As a rural town fills up with leprechaun-hunters in "A Plague of Leprechaun，" for example， it's easily foreseen that the sole disinterested party， an art school graduate intent on pursuing his craft， will end up with the little green fellow's bag of gold. On the other hand， the entry "Aunt Charlotte and the NGA Portraits" is a standout. This carefully framed narrative unfolds slowly and suspensefully to reveal a series of puzzles， their settings ranging from an underpopulated island off North Carolina to Canaletto's Venice， their marvelous resolution followed by a denouement of near-equal magic. The inventiveness and control shown here augur well for Turner's future endeavors. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal Grade 5-8?Seven short stories in which fantasy mingles with the everyday lives of ordinary people. In the first， a leprechaun sighting brings an excess of tourists to a small New England village. In the next， a boy goes back in time and makes himself a hero by claiming to be a killer of roaches. In "Aunt Charlotte and the NGA Portraits，" a girl is sent into a painting to search for a missing object that turns out to be a selkie skin. In the title story， an elf owes three wishes to a girl who keeps rejecting his efforts. In "The Baker King，" a kingdom keeps waiting for its prince to return and finds that he is there all the time?but in a most unlikely place. Each selection has an unexpected twist at the end that will surprise readers but that logically fits the tale. Turner does a fine job of creating time and place and imbues the selections with a mild humor that will elicit gentle chuckles and smiles. Some of the stories are stronger than others， and not all of them will appeal to the same audience， but all are readable and the best are very good. Several would also make excellent choices for reading aloud.?Jane Gardner Connor， South Carolina State Library， ColumbiaCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews"