The Land of Stories:
The Wishing Spell
During the summer vacations, I had gone to my grandmother’s house to spend some days with her. There was a bookshop nearby which I visit every time I go to grandmom’s. One day as I browsed through the books in the store, a book called The Land of Stories- The Wishing Spell caught my attention because I found the summary very interesting. The book is almost 450 pages long and its genre is adventure. It is written by Chris Colfer and it was his first novel. This book was first published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in the year 2012.
‘The Wishing Spell’ is a story about twin siblings Alex and Conner Bailey, who grew up hearing fairy tales read to them by their grandmother. On their birthday, their grandmother gives them an old, treasured book which turned out to be a magical book which magically teleports them to the land of stories where all fairy tale characters live. The two will meet a whole troop of fairy tale characters such as Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, among others. And to get back, they have to gather some items and conjure the wishing spell, which could be done only once more.
But with the Evil Queen following them, will they be able to do it?
The characters in this book are Alex and Conner Bailey, their grandmother who gives them the portal book, Froggy, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, 3 king Charmings, Red Riding Hood, Jack, Goldilocks and the Evil Queen. Alex and Conner are the heroes of the book and the story is about their adventures in the land of stories. Froggy is a man-frog and is very helpful to the twins. Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are queens of kingdoms. The 3 king Charmings are their husbands. Red Riding Hood is also the queen of one kingdom. Jack is the beanstalk guy and Goldilocks is a criminal and his girlfriend. The Evil Queen is the villain and is Snow White’s mother. She hires the hunter and her daughter to get the wishing spell items for her.
Chris Colfer manages to weave together all of my favorite fairy tales, and adds a backstory to all the more important characters. Alex and Conner travel to different parts of the land in order to collect items from each kingdom–a teardrop of a fairy from the Fairy Kingdom, a wicker basket from Red Riding Hood’s castle, and Cinderella’s glass slipper–and as you continue reading, you will feel like you truly are going on the scavenger hunt along with the main characters.
The book has a perfect blend of humour and sadness, with wit and positive messages about the true values of life. ‘The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell’ is a spectacular begin to a six-book series, with a possibility of a film adaption in the coming years.
I recommend this book for readers of age 8 - 12. If you read this book and liked it, I recommend reading ‘The land of stories- The Enchantress returns’, which is the next book in the series.
I give this book 4.1 out of 5 points.