a story about the words that live inside you

The Wishing
Word

Every child carries a word they've never said out loud —
a word that belongs to the sky, to the dark, to the stars that listen.

Begin

Enter the Story

A world between
dreaming and knowing

"Some words aren't meant to be spoken.
They're meant to be felt — the way starlight is felt before it's seen."

— from The Wishing Word

There is a space between waking and sleep where imagination lives most freely. The Wishing Word lives there, too — in that tender, luminous moment when a child closes their eyes and reaches inward toward something true and entirely their own.

This is a story not about magic happening to a child, but about the magic that was always inside them. It is about finding the word that already knew your name.

The Wishing Word book cover

About the Book

The word that
was always yours

The Wishing Word follows a child through the quiet hours of evening — past the noise of the day, past doubt and distraction — into a soft, still place where one single word waits to be found.

It is a book about self-expression without pressure. About imagination as a birthright. About the kind of inner strength that grows in silence, in moonlight, in the tender space between thinking and feeling.

Self-expression Emotional awareness Imagination Inner strength Ages 4 – 8 Bedtime reading

Interactive Experience

Tap a star.
Hear it whisper.

Each star in the Wishing Sky holds a message just for you. Reach up and touch one.

✦   tap any star to hear its message   ✦

Create Your Word

What is your
wishing word?

Type any word — your hope, your dream, your secret — and watch it glow in the sky.

wonder
🌙

For Parents

Discover how to use The Wishing Word as a bridge to meaningful conversations about feelings, imagination, and your child's inner world. Find bedtime rituals, connection prompts, and gentle guidance for creating emotional safety at home.

📚

For Educators

Bring The Wishing Word into your classroom with ready-to-use learning objectives, SEL discussion frameworks, creative writing activities, and curriculum-aligned prompts designed for early childhood and elementary classrooms.

Explore Together

Activities for little dreamers

Drawing, writing, imagining, and playing — activities that turn the story into something your child can hold in their hands.

🖊

Write & Draw

Printable pages for children to illustrate their own wishing word and write what it means to them.

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Nighttime Ritual

A guided bedtime activity card that parents and children can do together after reading the book.

⭐

Star Map

Children write their words on a printable star map, building a personal constellation of all their wishing words.

🎨

Digital Sky

Type your wishing word and watch it float into a glowing sky — a gentle, interactive moment of wonder.

For Little Dreamers

Activities &
Wonders

Every child needs a way to hold a story in their hands. These activities turn the words of the book into something drawn, written, imagined, and remembered.

Printable & Creative

01
Writing Activity · Ages 5+

My Wishing Word Journal Page

A printable page with a blank sky where children write or draw their wishing word. At the bottom, two gentle prompts:

  • "My wishing word is ___. I chose it because ___."
  • "When I say my word, I feel ___."
  • Space to illustrate the word in the sky
  • A star to color in when they've shared their word with someone they love
02
Drawing Activity · All Ages

Draw Your Night Sky

A gently structured drawing prompt — children receive a simple night-sky template and are invited to:

  • Fill the sky with their own stars
  • Place their wishing word among the clouds
  • Draw themselves beneath the sky, looking up
  • Color the moon however it feels tonight
03
Family Activity · Bedtime

The Nighttime Wishing Ritual

A guided bedtime card for parents and children to use together. Each night, before sleep, the family:

  • Takes three slow breaths together
  • Each person whispers one word for how they feel
  • Someone shares one hope for tomorrow
  • The child says their wishing word — out loud, softly, truly

The card is designed to feel like a small ritual, not a task. It can take 90 seconds or 20 minutes — whatever the night allows.

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04
Classroom Activity

Our Class Constellation

Each child writes their wishing word on a paper star. Together, the class creates a large constellation on the wall — a sky full of every child's word, glowing together.

  • Stars can be illustrated or simply written
  • No word is more important than another
  • The display stays up as a reminder of inner voice
05
Creative Writing · Ages 6+

Write the Story of Your Word

Children are invited to write (or dictate) a short story: where did their wishing word come from? Was it always theirs? Did they find it somewhere?

  • No wrong answers — the word can have any origin
  • Illustrations welcome alongside the writing
  • Stories can be shared in circle or kept private
06
Parent–Child Connection

Two Chairs, One Story

A conversation prompt card for parent and child. Two chairs facing each other. No screens. The parent shares their own wishing word — a word they held as a child or hold now. The child listens. Then the child shares theirs. Then they sit with the quiet together, which is also a kind of magic.

07
Digital Experience

The Wishing Word Sky

Use the interactive sky on this website to type any word and watch it float upward, glowing, into the digital night sky above. A gentle, quiet wonder. The word stays lit for a moment — just long enough to feel real — and then it softly rises away.

For Parents & Caregivers

A book for the
quiet hours

The Wishing Word was written for the tender space between the day and sleep — when children are soft and open, and the right story can reach places words usually don't. This page is for you: the parent, the guardian, the person who holds the book and reads by lamplight.

Emotional Benefits

What this book
does for your child

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Emotional Vocabulary

The book gently invites children to name how they feel — not with prescribed words, but with their own. It expands emotional literacy without pressure or performance.

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Inner Safety

Children learn that their inner world — their imagination, their feelings, their private thoughts — is a place worth visiting. A place that is safe and entirely theirs.

✦

Self-Expression

The wishing word activity gives children a ritual of self-expression that is entirely non-judgmental. Whatever their word is, it is right. It is enough. It is theirs.

🔗

Connection

When a parent shares their own wishing word, something opens. The book becomes a bridge — not a performance of bedtime, but a real moment of closeness.

🌟

Imagination

The dreamlike imagery of sky, moonlight, and floating words invites children to use their imagination freely — to see the world as a place that responds to wonder.

🧘

Calming Presence

The book's gentle rhythm and soft language create a calming sensory experience — it slows the pace of the evening and prepares the body and mind for rest.

How to Use It at Home

Reading rituals
that linger

The book works best when read slowly, without rushing toward the end. You don't need to explain it. You don't need to teach it. Just be present with your child in the story — and let the conversation find its own shape afterward.

Conversation Starters

These are not questions to quiz a child — they are invitations. Use whichever ones feel right, in whatever moment arrives.

"If you had a wishing word — just one — what do you think it might be?"

This question has no wrong answer. It might take a day to come. That's beautiful. Let the child think as long as they need.

"What does that word feel like inside your chest when you say it?"

This opens the body as a source of knowing — helping children understand that feelings live somewhere physical, and that noticing them is wisdom.

"I have a wishing word too. Do you want to know what mine is?"

Vulnerability from a parent is a gift to a child. When you share your own word — honestly — it shows them that the inner life is worth honoring at any age.

"Can we say our words at the same time, just softly, before we turn off the light?"

A tiny ritual. Two voices, two words, in the dark. This is the kind of moment a child carries into adulthood without knowing why it mattered so much.

"Do you think your wishing word will always be the same, or might it change someday?"

This invites reflection about growth and change in a safe, imaginative context — teaching children that they are allowed to evolve.

Why This Book Matters

The world needs children
who know their own voice

In a noisy world, the child who can sit quietly with their own thoughts — who knows how to reach inward for something true — has an extraordinary gift. The Wishing Word is one small seed of that gift, planted in the quiet of an evening, watered by a parent's presence.

For Educators & Librarians

A story that
teaches
without trying

The best books for children don't feel like lessons. They feel like discoveries. The Wishing Word was written that way — and this page exists to help you bring it into your classroom as gently and meaningfully as it was written.

Learning Objectives

What children gain

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Children practice self-awareness by identifying a personal word that represents their inner emotional landscape. They develop vocabulary for inner experience without pressure to conform to prescribed feelings.

Language & Literacy

The book's lyrical, rhythmic language builds phonemic awareness and fluency. Its rich imagery supports vocabulary development and invites children to experience language as sensory and meaningful.

Imagination & Creative Thinking

Children are invited to imagine, invent, and assign personal meaning to language — core skills of creative and divergent thinking that support learning across all subjects.

Identity & Belonging

The book supports children in understanding that their inner voice — their particular way of experiencing the world — is valid, valued, and worth listening to.

Classroom Integration

How to use the book

Read the book slowly. Pause often. This is not a race toward the end. Let the images breathe. After the first reading, sit in silence for 10 seconds before asking anything — let the story settle in the room the way music fades.

On the second reading (the following day, or later the same day), invite children to listen for the word that feels most alive to them — not the right answer, but their answer.

  • Read once without stopping, for immersion
  • Read again, pausing to notice specific images: the sky, the moon, the floating word
  • After reading, invite one word from each child — no sentences required
  • Collect the words without comment; simply receive them

Writing activities work best when they feel like invitations, not assignments. Frame every prompt as a question with no wrong answer.

  • "My wishing word is ___ because ___" — a two-line journal entry that can become much longer if the child wishes
  • Ask children to write a short poem using their word as the first and last line
  • Invite children to write what the sky looks like from inside their wishing word — as if the word were a room they could step into
  • Ask: "If your word could speak, what would it say to you?"
  • Create a class anthology of wishing word stories — each child contributes one page

Small group work creates space for quieter children to share in ways that whole-class discussions don't allow. Suggested group size: 3–5 students.

  • Each child shares their word and one sentence about why they chose it — no commenting or reacting from others during shares
  • Groups collaboratively create a "wishing sky" mural — each child draws their word into a shared sky
  • Pairs interview each other: "When did you first feel your word? What does it remind you of?"
  • Groups create a short, shared performance: they read the book's final lines together, each adding one word of their own at the end

The book aligns naturally with SEL competencies in self-awareness and self-management. Use it as an anchor text for a unit on emotional identity.

  • Morning meeting opener: "What is everyone's word for today?" (The word can change daily — that's the point)
  • Introduce the concept of an "emotional vocabulary" — words that are bigger than happy, sad, angry, and scared
  • Use the wishing word as a daily check-in tool: students hold up their word on a card as they enter the classroom
  • Pair with mindfulness moments: two breaths in, one breath out, say your word silently
  • End-of-day reflection: "Did your word change today? What happened?"

Discussion Questions

For the classroom conversation

1

"The child in the story has a word that feels like their own. What makes a word feel like it belongs to you?"

2

"If the night sky could talk back to you, what do you think it would say?"

3

"Why do you think some words feel different when you say them out loud versus when you only think them?"

4

"Is there a difference between a word you like and a word that matters to you? What's the difference?"

5

"The story says the word belongs to the child. Do you think a word can really belong to someone? How?"

6

"If your wishing word could travel somewhere tonight while you sleep, where do you think it would go?"

School Visits

Invite Mona to your school

Mona brings The Wishing Word to life through author visits — reading, Q&A, and a guided wishing word activity for each child. Available virtually and in-person in the Chicago area.

The Author

Mona
Alsabah

"I write for the child
who is still inside all of us."

✍

Mona Alsabah

Writer & Educator · Chicago, IL

✉   monaalsabahm2@gmail.com ✦   School Visit Inquiries ✦   Media & Press

A story about why
she writes

Mona Alsabah grew up watching people do something she found quietly extraordinary: they paused. In the middle of everything — school, work, arguments, celebrations — there were these small, still moments when someone would go inward. Eyes slightly unfocused. Breathing slower. Reaching for something that didn't have a name.

She became a teacher, then an intervention specialist. She spent her career working alongside children who were struggling — not because they weren't capable, but because they hadn't yet been given the language to understand what was happening inside them. She discovered that the most powerful thing she could offer a child wasn't a solution. It was a mirror.

The Wishing Word began as a small idea on a winter evening — a note she wrote to herself after a particularly hard day with a student who had gone completely silent. Not defiant. Not disengaged. Just silent in the way that means: I have something inside me that has no words yet. She wrote the first draft for that child. And then she realized she was writing it for herself, too.

She is based in Chicago, Illinois, where she lives close enough to Lake Michigan to see the water catch moonlight on clear nights. When she is not writing or teaching, she is probably sitting outside looking at the sky — which is, she says, where all her best thinking happens.

The Wishing Word is her debut picture book. It will not be her last.

"I didn't write this book to teach children something new. I wrote it to remind them of something they already know — something they knew before they could talk, before they had words for any of it. The wishing word isn't something I gave them. It was already theirs. I just made a space where they could find it again." — Mona Alsabah

Get in Touch

Write to Mona

Bring It Home

The Wishing
Word

A book that lives on the nightstand, in the memory, and in the quiet between parent and child.

Choose Your Edition

📖

Paperback

$18.99

+ shipping

  • Full-color illustrations
  • Soft-cover, perfect for little hands
  • Signed copy available
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✨

Hardcover

$26.99

free shipping included

  • Durable hardcover binding
  • Full-color illustrations
  • Personalized inscription
  • Gift-ready packaging
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🏫

Classroom Set

$89.99

5 paperbacks · free shipping

  • 5 paperback copies
  • Printable educator guide
  • Discussion question cards
  • Activity sheets for 30 students
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