The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell (Land of Stories #1) by Chris Colfer (ARC Review)

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry it's been a while! School started five and a half weeks ago, along with my second job at the elementary school, so life has become just a tad crazy again.  Anyway, I've got a review for you!  I just finished The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer!

Instead of giving you the Goodreads description this time around, I'm actually going to give you my own description, because personally I feel the Goodreads one, just doesn't do the book justice!

From Goodreads

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer is one of those books that if you love fairytales, you will not forget!  It is the story of Conner and Alex Bailey, twin siblings who are very different, but end up going on an incredible journey they will never forget.  When their grandmother gives them the fairytale book, that their deceased father used to read to them, for their birthday, neither of them expects to be literally pulled into the book, and into the fairytale world that they grew up on.  Now, we all know what happened before the happily ever after, but no one know what happened AFTER.

We learn that Cinderella is expected her first child; Snow White is looking for her evil stepmother, the evil queen, who has escaped from prison; Sleeping Beauty is still trying to fully wake up her kingdom; Little Red Riding Hood, has become Queen Red Riding Hood, and is a tad obsessed with herself; and Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, is trying to find his lost love...Goldilocks, who is wanted for thievery, burglary, and running from the law.

Along the way, Alex and Conner have to find a way back home! And the only way out is by finding the items for a spell called, The Wishing Spell.  In order to complete the spell they must find things like, one of Cinderella's glass slippers, a piece of Red Riding Hood's basket, and a few others things.  With each item they find, more and more danger awaits them; but with the help of some lovely friends along the way, they may just be able to do it.  Just as long as the evil queen does not get in their way!

My Thoughts:

So I have a confession...I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago.  But because of my busy schedule and the fact that this book was for a class project, it took me a lot longer than usual to write my review for it.  Which reminds me...I am SO sorry that I haven't written more reviews lately, but honestly my schedule this semester is once again pretty crazy!  I've been reading the same book for the past few weeks, because I just haven't had as much time as I'd like for reading.  I have my two jobs, plus night classes, plus spending time with my boyfriend and family...but don't worry guys, I'm making it all work :).

Wow, I can't even tell you how much I loved this book! Absolutely beautiful!

I am a HUGE fairytale fan.  I grew up on all the originals by the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, because my mom would read them to me before bed.  I LOVED them!

Now, what I honestly never thought about, and what I loved about Chris Colfer's debut was the concept of What Happens After the Happily After.  While most people try to ruin the whole Happily Ever After for us, when they make up stories about the after, I LOVED that Chris adds more drama, but at the same time keeps the overall story and love of the fairytale world intact.

So, as I mentioned above, this book was read for a class project for my Child Literature class, I'm taking this semester.  We had to pick any chapter book for grades 3-6, and because I've been wanting to read this book since it first came out in 2012, I knew this was my perfect chance, especially when I saw it in the elementary school library I work at!  And trust me when I say, I am SOOOOOOO glad I picked this book!

A part of the project was not only writing a paper on the book, but also thinking of someway to promote the book for children, who may not be such big readers.  I worked DAYS on this project, because when it comes to reading, I am serious about promoting it to kids, and HECK EVERYONE! I even ended up making TWO posters, because I figured out an even better idea for getting my point across.  So after days of laboring (okay, let's be serious, I did it because I truly enjoyed it!), I finally finished and this is what came out of it...

The Final Project

The original poster I was going to turn in

I am proud to say my poster got the point across.  I was showing the small group I worked with, and there first response as I unrolled my "boring" poster (the reason I say "boring" is because some people had come up with super creative ways of promoting their books, including a remote control motorcycle with a cat toy mouse, riding on the back for Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle; and then another was of a box with a bunch of things representing items from a book, while the presenter played out a role playing exercise, where she read a letter and played a song on a recorder), was "WOW!" It was so great! My teacher, who was walking by at that moment, even said, "Wow, I already want to read the book, and I haven't even heard what it's about!" Apparently, my poster got the point across, because it truly looked like something out of a fairytale world! (You can't see it really in the picture, but the entire map is covered in glitter).  It was 100% worth all the hard work!

So anyway, back to the book...

Overall rating (If you haven't already guessed)...  

This book was AMAZING! It may be considered a children's book, but heck I loved it and I am 23!  It was such a refreshing change from the adult novels I've been having to read lately, for authors, publishers, and others.  It really makes me want to read more!  In fact, I wasn't even half way through the book, and I found myself going to buy the second one, because I was already loving it so much! So hopefully soon, you'll be seeing the review for book two in The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer!

Thanks Everyone! Have a great rest of your week! :)

The Romance Bookie :)