The Land of Stories

Greetings BookWorms! Today I’ll be reviewing the fantastic fantasy by Chris Colfer, the Land of Stories!

The Land of Stories stars Alex and Connor, twins whose family is struggling after the death of their father. Alex is a whiz at school, she is always eager to learn and is often the only one with their hand raised when Mrs. Peters—their teacher—asks a question. Connor however, slacks off, he is a good kid at heart, but he doesn’t do well at school. Connor dozes off a lot, so Mrs. Peters is forced to put him on the spot to make sure he is even slightly listening, usually Connor doesn’t know the answer to these spontaneous questions; however, when Mrs. Peters introduces the new unit about fairytales, to everyone’s surprise, Connor answers correctly.

Alex and Conner grew up with fairytales, as their dad and grandma loved them, their grandma had a special storybook called the Land of Stories which she used to read from all the time.

Alex and Connor’s mom works really hard to keep the family going so she often works double shifts at the children’s hospital, she loves her job but hates that the only times that she really gets to see her kids is for two quick lunch and dinner breaks.

By the time Alex and Connors 12th birthday rolls around their mom promises the twins that she’ll be there for dinner and they’ll even great a cake, but she gets a call from the hospital “asking” her to work another double shift. The twins are understanding but slightly disappointed. So they are pleasantly surprised when their grandma shows up with loads of presents and cooks the best food the twins have eaten in a long time.

The twins are more than happy with all the presents that they got, but their grandma has one final surprise for them; her old story book. Alex and Connor are overjoyed and so many memories come flooding back. After their grandma leaves Alex takes the book to her room and strangely it starts buzzing and glowing, she doesn’t tell Connor yet, but she realizes that it’s a portal to a different world. One evening Connor figured out that she’s planning to cross into the other world by herself so he rushes home to stop her. He finds her in her room but it’s too late, her mind is made up and the best Connor can do is to jump in with her.

Soon they find themselves in the Land of Stories, a world with many kingdoms, friends, and foes. Connor desperately wants to go home but Alex wants to explore, they soon meet a kind Frog-Man who tells them of a Wishing Spell that can grant any wish no matter how big or small, if the correct hard to get items are collected and placed in the same vicinity as the others. So Alex and Connor start on their quest to assemble the Wishing Spell, but it looks like they might have some competition.

I think this book is for 9+ because of some violence and descriptions of injuries but it’s not gory or anything and it’s a great read so I definitely recommend it!

Now for my postly “how would I describe this book in 3-4 words”

Magical, Captivating, and Touching

Thanks for reading,

Camila