Granted

Granted (2018) is a fantasy novel by John David Anderson, written for middle-grade readers. The story revolves around Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets, a fairy who is on a quest to grant her first wish. Ophelia’s adventures lead her to question the very essence of wishes, magic, and duty. As an author who writes prolifically for a middle-grade readership, Anderson has published seven books before Granted. His literary contributions have earned him a Charlotte Huck Award and an ALSC Notable Books Commendation. Granted and several other works by Anderson are part of the Junior Library Guild Selections.

This guide references Walden Press’s 2018 eBook version.

Plot Summary

Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets is a Granter, a fairy who grants wishes, though she is yet to receive her first assignment. She lives in the North American Haven, protected from humans by magic. Fairies have many different jobs in the Haven, but Ophelia feels hers is the most important. As magic is not self-sustaining—belief in magic creates more magic—the fairies grant wishes to inspire belief in humans and thereby preserve magic. However, the magic keeps dwindling, and the fairies are unsure why.

On a typical day, Ophelia waits for her co-worker and best friend, Charlie Rhododendron Whistler, and they fly together to the Great Tree. The Great Tree’s roots tap into the region’s magic, and every leaf on the tree represents a wish made in North America the day before. The fairies gather around the tree each morning and summon leaves to fall. The leaves that fall are the wishes the fairies will grant that day. On this day, there are only 12 leaves, an all-time low.

Ophelia’s boss, Barnabus Oleander Squint, assigns Ophelia her first wish: She must grant a purple bike to 13-year-old Kasarah Quinn from Kettering, Ohio. Ophelia prepares for her journey, confident despite the warnings from her friends about the dangers of the outside world. She heads out on her mission covered in camouflage spray, which is a magical liquid that makes humans perceive fairies as other creatures like birds or insects. She has 12 hours to complete her mission, which she thinks should be plenty of time. However, only a few hours in, a jet plane nearly hits Ophelia. This throws her off course, and she struggles to find her way. Eventually, she finds the fountain that contains Kasarah’s coin. In order to grant a wish, Ophelia needs to sprinkle the object the wisher wished upon with fairy dust. However, before Ophelia can get the coin, a man steals it from the fountain.

Ophelia follows the man to a diner, where he is using the coin to help pay for a meal. Ophelia tries to grab it from the counter. Assuming she is a bird, the staff and patrons swat at her with brooms and newspapers, eventually shooing her out the door. Ophelia waits outside, finding the coin on another man who is leaving the diner. She unsuccessfully tries to get the coin from him and ends up getting side-swiped by a truck.

Landing in a pile of trash, Ophelia finds that her wing is broken. She tries to find her distress signal but realizes she lost it in the accident. A dog finds her and befriends her. Ophelia names him Sam. She rides on his back, and they look for the coin together. When a hawk grabs Ophelia, Sam follows her and rescues her. They finally catch up with the coin at a pet store but narrowly miss it after Sam insists that Ophelia free the dogs caged there.

Ophelia comes close to giving up on her mission when she hears the wish calling to her. She rides on Sam and finds the man who had the coin speeding past them in his car. However, he no longer has the wish. He used the coin to purchase lemonade from Anna and Gabe Morales, two children whom Ophelia saw earlier at the diner. Their father, Anthony, is deployed in Iraq, and Gabe is struggling without him. Sam and Ophelia follow the children home. Ophelia has Sam distract the family so she can sneak into the house.

Ophelia nearly has the coin when Gabe stomps upstairs, angry and sad that his mother will not let him keep Sam. Ophelia tries to use the knockout gas on him but Gabe moves too quickly, grabbing Kasarah’s coin from a pile on his desk and leaving the house. When she catches up with Gabe, he is standing by a creek with the coin in hand. She hits him with the knockout gas, but it is too late. He has already used the coin to make a wish for his father to come home. His wish layers over Kasarah’s wish on the coin.

Ophelia wonders what she should do when Charlie appears. The truck accident earlier triggered her distress call, and Charlie came to find her while Squint put together a rescue team. Ophelia asks for Charlie’s advice, but just then, Squint appears, demanding she leave the coin and hand over her fairy dust since she has failed at her mission. The rescue team moves to restrain her; just then, Sam shows up, barking, and scares the other fairies away. Ophelia and Squint fight over the coin, and Ophelia wrests it from him and grants Gabe’s wish.

Ophelia faints on the way back to Haven and spends three days healing in the infirmary. When she wakes up, Squint chides her for her failed mission but acknowledges that there seems to be more magic after her antics. He tells her his plans to reassess their wish-granting system and places her on probation. Then, Squint sends Ophelia and Charlie to grant Kasarah’s wish without any fairy dust.

The pair fly back to Ohio and fix up a junkyard bike. Sam arrives to help them, bringing purple spray paint. The trio pushes the bike to Kasarah Quinn’s house, leaving her an anonymous note. Then, they head back to the Morales house. Ophelia gets Sam to bark at the door. Anthony Morales opens the door, his shoulder bandaged from a shrapnel wound that got him sent home. The kids follow, rushing out to pet Sam. They beg to keep Sam, and the parents agree.

Satisfied, Ophelia and Charlie return to Haven.