Center for Teaching & Learning

Alex and her twin brother, Conner, fall into a strange world and take a dangerous and exciting adventure. This adventure leads them toward knowing more about their family and themselves. The Land Of Stories: The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer, is an exciting story of many tales from many children's books: from Jack and the Beanstalk to Sleeping Beauty. Some of the characters in these familiar stories are not what they seem in this strange twist of a world, and the reader gets to see their true selves. Alex and Conner find lots of friends but many enemies, too. With adventures into the sea, mines, lairs and castles, the twins collect important pieces so that they can find a way home, but it is harder than it seems.

With action-packed and challenging missions, Colfer allows Conner and Alex to find their way into a lot of trouble, and they have to do some dangerous things to get out. What Colfer does to set the scene for more books in the Land of Stories series is have Alex make friends she never had before, so she changes as these new relationships form.

Alex and Conner lost their dad a few years ago to a car crash, and their mother had to sell the bookstore they owned, in order to take a full time job that meant she barely saw the twins except on break. Alex is twelve just like Conner and loves to read, so in school she knows all the answers to all the questions.  Everyone dislikes her because she acts like a teacher's pet. Colfer shows that Alex doesn't have any friends and is lonely, while Conner is the complete opposite. He is not as smart as Alex in school, but he plays a big part in their trip into the Land of Stories and reveals how smart he is, even when he falls asleep in class nearly every day and has many friends, unlike Alex. Readers will like how Colfer made Alex and Conner so different in some ways, yet similar at the same time.

I appreciated this book because Chris Colfer is a very descriptive and thoughtful writer. For example: 

“It was, undoubtedly, a witch, and although they had never seen a real witch to make a comparison to, she was more grotesque than they could have imagined. Her skin was wrinkled and pale with a yellowish tint. Her eyes were bloodshot and bulged out of her head. She was hunched over and had an enormous hump on her back.”

“Hello, children,” the witch said. 

I love how much description Colfer puts in, without ever dragging out the moment or slowing the pace. My rating for this book is a ten out of ten. I found this novel to be unpredictable, even though it has familiar characters with their stories retold. Readers will never know what will happen next or who will appear next. If you like adventure, fantasy, and twists, this book is just the one for you.

Taber

Little, Brown, 438 pages