After making a wish in her dreams at the Inner Voice Shop, a young girl gains the power to hear her family’s innermost thoughts. But after the initial thrill, can she now keep her mind from drowning in the cacophony of thoughts surrounding her?

Eleven-year-old Ching-jih’s resentment over the attention her parents lavish on her younger brother makes her prone to angry tantrums. After retreating to her room following a particularly nasty outburst with her parents at dinner, her mind drifts to something a friend told her…that saying a certain prayer at bedtime would let you visit the Inner Voice Shop in your dreams. She tries it out and, along the shore of a magically beautiful pond, the shop’s pixie-like proprietor grants her urgent wish to listen in on her family’s thoughts.

At first, hearing her parents’ unspoken worries and praises lifted Ching-jih’s spirits. Even her brother seemed not as bad as she’d thought. But after a while, the smattering of critical thoughts and cynical takes floating in the minds of her outwardly amiable parents brings her argumentative nature once again to the fore. Even worse, she hears in the thoughts of her deceptively cherubic and innocent-looking younger brother a wish for her damnation to hell. It was then she realized even the closest of kin can think and say hurtful things to one another.

Ching-jih now wanted desperately to silence the voices in her head…to never hear those inner voices again. But she remembers her willing acceptance of the shop proprietor’s offer to grant her four wishes. With no escape clause to fall back on, Ching-jih knew not only that she would visit the Inner Voice Shop another three times but that she would forever be vulnerable to the wayward thoughts of others.

This book explores the relationship that resides in the “mind’s eye” between the self and others, with Misa capturing perfectly her protagonist’s psychological journey. Although most at some point have ached to read the thoughts of others, Ching-jih’s story raises a subtle reminder – When probing others’ innermost thoughts, never lose sight of your own inner voice.