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The Land of Stories – Book I
Chris Colfer
Atom (Little, Brown)
17 July 2012 / ISBN-13: 9781907411762
Hardback
Fantasy
Tweenage and up
Amazon
UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Twelve-year-old
twins Alex and Connor Bailey are nothing alike: she loves fairy
stories and excels at her school work while her brother is a born
pragmatist and finds school a struggle. Since their father's sudden
death,life has taken a turn for the worse, but then it takes a turn
for the stranger when the old fairy tale book their grandmother
has given them begins to hum. Something is going on, could it be
a portal to another world?
Fairy tales are hot right now, and if you too are a fan of this
new trend then you ought to enjoy this one. You don't even need
to be a tweenager; I am an adult and had a ball reading it. The
twins have to go on a scavenger hunt to collect items for a spell
to send them home through a fantasy land made up of several kingdoms.
Chased by the evil queen, helped by a rather human frog and meeting
up with many familiar (through stories) characters this is a fun
tale. Out of school Alex's academic skills are of less use than
Connor's down-to-earth realism, so it is good to see how different
talents come to the fore in different situations. It even manages
to be rather witty, as we get to see what happens to the characters
after the tales are over and Connor usually has a droll quip to
lighten any moment. There is more mileage to all this than is contained
in one book so I do hope that this is indeed the start to a new
series. Lots of fun for quite a wide variety of readers.
Reviews
of other titles in the The Land of Stories Series
The
Wishing Spell #1
Beyond
the Kindom #4
The
Curvy Tree #5
The
Mother Goose Diaries & Queen Red Riding Hood's Guide to Royalty
(box set) #6 & #7
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