adventure awaits..

The series I’m reading is “The Land of Stories” by Chris Colfer. 

FUN FACT: Chris Colfer played Kurt Hummel on the TV show Glee.

When deciding which books from the series I wanted to read, I chose the first two.  I knew if I chose the third or fourth book, I would have regretted it because I wouldn’t be introduced to the characters.  Maybe I would have, but I’d much prefer to start a series from the beginning than in the middle. 

The first book is “The Wishing Spell” and chapters 1-3 are an introduction to the main characters.  Alex and Conner are twins.  Alex is the brains but lacks a social life, where as Conner is the opposite and is always caught sleeping in class.  However, despite their differences, they get along fairly well. 

Growing up, Conner and Alex always looked forward to going to their Grandmas house in the woods with their father because they would read fairytales together.  About a year ago, their father passed away in a car accident and money has been tight ever since.  Their mom has been picking up extra shifts at the hospital in order to pay the bills and unfortunately, one of these extra shifts landed on the twins 12th birthday.  As a surprise, mom asked grandma to come and stay with the kids for their birthday.  Grandma brought over the book that she and their father would read to them when they were younger(ironically it’s called “The Land of Stories”) and gave it to them as a birthday present.

Long story short, the twins discover that this book is actually magical.  They fall into the book and are now trapped inside the fairytale land.  So far, the story has been about Alex and Conner touring a land of magic that was once their favorite bedtime stories.  With the help of a friendly frog man, they get their hands on a journal which helps them find their way back home.  They don’t know if fairytale time is the same as reality, or if reality stops once they are in ‘The Land of Stories’.

I’ll be honest, I was a little worried when I first started reading the book.  I was afraid I wouldn’t like it because it took so long to get into the juicy fairytales!  I wanted to hop straight into the fairytale world, but Colfer took about three chapters introducing the characters.  Once I got passed those first 61 pages, I could hardly put the book down.  I was actually out with my friends this past Thursday and I told them how excited I was to go back home and read my book.  They all thought I was a little weird, especially considering that it’s a children’s book, but I’m loving getting lost in an imaginary world again!

There are a few lines from the book that have resonated with me that I think could help promote some discussion in a classroom, and also have some moral value:

“‘I’ve learned that the more people embrace their disadvantages, the less disadvantaged they become!”’ (Colfer, p. 92).

“‘Do you ever find it overwhelming?’ Alex asked Smithers.  ‘Does it ever get frightening living here and knowing that at any moment a fairy could fly by and grant you a wish, or an ogre could run up and eat you?’  Smithers looked at her curiously.  ‘Does such a place exist where people can’t unexpectedly be helped or hurt?’” (Colfer, p. 170).

“What if, as they were speaking, Lampton was putting together a band of soldiers to find them and take them into captivity? ‘Then we’ll tell him the truth and worry about it when it happens,’ Alex said” (Colfer, p. 197).

I think this last quote in particular would be a great discussion starter for a classroom.  To give you a little background knowledge, Alex and Conner need to find eight items for a wishing spell to send them back home.  One of those items is one of Cinderella’s glass slippers.  They went to her palace and were treated very kindly by Cinderella and the head of her Royal Guard, Lampton; both were not informed by Alex or Conner of their need for the glass slipper.  They were brought into the room where the glass slippers were held, but decided that it would be unethical to steal the slipper right then.  After they left the palace, they discovered that the slipper had magically appeared in their bag.

Although I haven’t put too much thought into the discussion, I think it would interesting to hear what students would do if they were in this situation.  If Lampton was “putting together a band of soldiers”, would they tell the truth even if it could risk them getting home to the real world?  Would they try to lie their way out of the situation?  Or would any students have a different idea as to what they would do?

Enough about my series book, I have a few comments about Miller’s “Reading in the Wild”.

I’ve enjoyed reading the first two chapters, however, my only complaint is that she kind of rambles.  I loved her idea of the classroom read-alouds, but she goes on and on about it when I think she could have gotten her point across in a few paragraphs.  But, on a better note, she has a lot of great ideas that I’m looking forward to implementing into my classroom!  And I also love how she puts blank copies of her handouts in the appendix!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your weekend :)