Wishing well magic; a spirited, temperamental girl; and a production of The Snow Queen all feature prominently in this fantasy novel from a newly published author. The Avy, Nuria's grandfather, has forbidden her ever to cast a wish on the well in Bishop's Mayne. The power of the well is tricky and wishes not carefully stated can easily go wrong. That is how all the village children disappeared before the orphaned Nuria came to live with the Avy. But the only other child in town, paralyzed Catty Winter, wheedles Nuria into making a wish on her behalf. "I wish Catty had a body like mine,"Nuria reluctantly declares, but even so she could not have predicted the result. She and Catty are unexpectedly transformed--transported into one another's bodies, and into each other's lives. Nuria's plan to recall the wish and return to her beloved Avy involves outwitting the self-centered Catty during a production of The Snow Queen. Warm interiors and frosty winter landscapes set the scene and tone in this novel in which language and feeling both play significant roles. (Ages 9-12)