_____________________________________________________________________
Pages: 228
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Genres: middle grade, fantasy, magic, action, adventure, friendship.
_____________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review as part of a blog tour. Neither the author nor the publisher influenced my opinions on the book.
Welcome to the world of Word Weavers. I have to say, this is one of my favourite worlds that I've read about in a long time. I've read plenty of books about jumping into stories, being pulled into books, reading stories aloud and they come to life but this is the first I've read a book where somebody has the ability to write stories to life. It was a unique world, and one that I was immediately drawn into.
The plot was actually very interesting and while some stuff was a bit predictable, other things like who was the baddie in the end did take me by surprise. I really loved the part where history and story telling really collided. Reading this book really made me want to go back and read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I never finished the full trilogy so this could definitely be the opportunity to do so. I would definitely call this book the middle grade Inkheart.
Keira was kind of an odd character for me. She was many different things to different people and I never truly got a sense of who she was. Since she meant so many different things to so many different people it kind of got confusing and seemed like there were a few too many sides to her.
Her best friend Bella, is actually quite the selfish character. She pushes Keira to write the story in the first place even knowing it could possibly get her in trouble. She may of had good intentions, but she got so caught up in what she was doing that she failed to take her best friend into consideration, even when it became serious. I just feel like she was a source of good influence as well as bad for Keira.
Chet was kind of a weird character for me. I don't really know why he was there, I feel like he didn't especially move the plot along that much. I did love the fact that he's French Canadian though. I suppose it was the skills that he had and which he taught to Keira which made him central to the story. Also being the kind of love interest makes it a bit thrilling.
The tips, small pieces of knowledge and the little quips that were at the beginning of each chapter were adorable, hilarious and had me looking forward to seeing how they were incorporated into the chapter that they were the header of. I was also really intrigued at the beginning of the book why the date was also included in French, but it soon all started to make sense. It was little touches like those that really made the book for me.
Reading this book as an adult, it was a little bit too faced paced for my liking. It started off with a bang and then just never stopped. I would've liked more of a calm beginning and lead in into the full story arc. I know it is really hard to find a balance in middle grade books. You have to be able to fit in the full plot into a shorter book since the can't be super long in this genre. But I would've liked so many more things to be explored within the book. It would've given us more of a chance to breathe instead of it just being bang, bang, bang with big plot issues. Also, I found everything to be a little over the top; everything from outrageous things happening one after the other, to the way Keira and her parents reacted to their situation, to the way Keira felt within the situation.
Reading this book as a middle grader, it has everything that one could want in a story. It has action, adventure, magic, and mystery. Middle graders will be spellbound and looking for their own magical pen to start writing their own stories. I feel like in a world like today fantasy and magic are sort of seen as a waste of time. What I love most about the book is the very fact that it has so much magic and fantasy within it which will stimulate kids' imaginations.
To be honest I feel like all authors are Word Weavers. They all create these worlds and adventures that suck us in and which we experience inside of our own imaginations and which we truly wish we could jump inside the pages. I certainly wish that I had a magic pen that I could write stories and then jump inside them. Hopefully this book can definitely inspire some young people to pick up the pen and start creating their own worlds to share with everyone. So come join the world of Word Weavers and read the Princess and the Page!
No comments