Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James
- Blurb: Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents’ bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.
One day Tilly realises that classic children’s characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of `book wandering’ – crossing over from the page into real life.
With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.
- Review: This middle grade set in London was a real treat to read. As a 30something year old woman from the UK, I found this book extremely charming and it gave me some real nostalgic vibes of how much I enjoyed reading as a child. Most of the story takes place in an old bookshop owned by Tilly’s grandparents where some of Tilly’s favourite book characters start turning up to say Hi and take Tilly and her friend Oscar into their books. The main mystery throughout the whole story is, where is Tilly’s mother? What happened to her and is she going to come back before the book ends? Why is Mr Chalk so creepy? It’s up to Tilly and Oscar to figure out. The only criticism I have with this story is it gets a bit too far-fetched towards the end, in my opinion. Overall it was a pleasure to read and I’m looking forward to the next book in this trilogy which should be releasing next year. On another note, the physical book is absolutely stunning with cute illustrations dotted throughout.
Hardcover: 400 Pages
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
