‘A Wish a Day’ is a gentle and poetic journey about the meaning and significance of wishes and friendship. The narration - light and warm does not lack depth and is rooted in the great tradition of fairy tales and fables, it shines with originality and subtle irony. The dialogue between the text and Giulia Vetri's illustrations is constant, inspired, and the entire narrative proves to be a hymn to listening to words, emotions, what we are and our deepest voice.’
——Scientific Committee

★From the winner of the 2024 Andersen Prize, a contemporary fable for all readers about wishes and friendship.
★A WISH A DAY /Un desiderio al giorno by Luca Tortolini is the winner of the 2025 Premio Strega Ragazze & Ragazzi(category 8+).

In Ancient Wood, the first thing everyone does upon waking up is make a wish. That’s how it has always been, and that’s how it is for everyone. Brown Bear wishes for happiness. Red Squirrel longs to be loved. Only Iridescent Hare makes no wish at all. Her friends begin to wonder —is she sick? How can someone live without wishing for anything? True friends recognize when someone is in need, so they decide to take her to Noble Deer, the wise elder, for advice. They come to understand a simple truth: wishing is nothing more than creating small moments of happiness. And all it takes is one wish a day to make each day unique and unrepeatable.

LUCA TORTOLINI is a beloved and award-winning children’s writer, screenwriter, and teacher, living in Macerata, Italy. In 2024, he won the Andersen Prize for Best Author of the Year, following his 2021 Andersen Prize for Best Illustrated Book with François Truffaut. The Boy Who Loved Cinema (Kite). His works include The Houses of Other Children (Orecchio Acerbo, Special Mention at the 2016 Bologna Ragazzi Award) and The Most Beautiful Garden (Il Castoro).

GIULIA VETRI is an Italian illustrator, writer, and designer, born in 1989 in a small town on the Po River Delta and currently based in Brussels. She studied industrial design at IUAV in Venice and illustration at ISIA in Urbino. She has published several books with French and international publishers.