Pages & Co.: Tilly and the Bookwanderers: Book 1

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Be still my middle-grade literary heart! Tilly and the Bookwanders is such a treasure of a book and what reader doesn't look a book about books? I dare you to try and find out! Impossible!! I am absolutely enamoured with every single thing about this book. I don't think I've had such a connection with a children's story as an adult before and I have definitely found a new favourite here. You follow Tilly who is living with her grandparents after her mother mysteriously disappeared after she was born. Her father was gone before she was born and there isn't much information on him. One day, Tilly finds a box of her mothers old books and suddenly she starts to see characters from books. Alice and Anne also take Tilly into their worlds. Tilly soon learns that she's a bookwanderer and about the rules for doing so. She also realises that there are some mysteries surrounding her mothers disappearance and she takes them upon herself to find out more... Milo lives on board the Sesquipedalian, or “Quip” – a magical train that uses the power of imagination to travel through both Story and the real world. The train is owned by Milo’s uncle, Horatio, and Milo has witnessed many of his uncle’s dodgy dealings as a book smuggler trading in rare books.

BOOKWANDERERS | Kirkus Reviews THE BOOKWANDERERS | Kirkus Reviews

And then there's the matter of Tilly's mother breaking all the rules and stuff and the villain didn't like all the broken rules and he put her in there. I mean I didn't like the villain at all, he was so predictable but I seemed to agree with him. I mean of all the people to agree with, for me to agree with the villain is another sign that I wasn't going to like it as much as I had wanted to. On the predictability, I predicted every single thing pretty early on so that's another reason I didn't like this. This is the book of any bibliophile's dream. It is written with the true passion of a reader and with a great understanding of various classics. I'm not quite sure the middle grade age range this is aimed at would have a full understanding of the classic influences and nods throughout, but this adult reader appreciated them all immensely.Friends should bring out the best in you, not be the same as you. I’m sure you’re someone’s perfect fit.” Often characters in books are considerably more consistent than the people around us. All that messy life stuff does rather get in the way.”

Tilly and the Bookwanderers Quotes by Anna James - Goodreads Tilly and the Bookwanderers Quotes by Anna James - Goodreads

Meanwhile, the Underwoods are expanding their control over bookwandering – and they still have their sights set on Tilly. Leaving the safety of the bookshop, Tilly heads to America to find the legendary Archivists and save bookwandering… Well, this was a thrill-a-minute and adventure aplenty, it also has some important messages on friendship. I am sure that this will appeal not only to youngsters but adults, too. I am certainly a lot older than the recommended reading age, but I absolutely loved this! So much so, that I am already eagerly anticipating the follow-up. There is no doubt that this was written by a book lover for other bibliophiles to enjoy - there are many descriptions that only the bookish would delight in. It portrays accurately the intense and magical feelings you get when reading a timeless tale. Nostalgic and imaginative, this is a superb debut! One of the things that honestly caught me off guard about this one, was that there was a genuinely interesting mystery happening around her about her mother's whereabouts and where that plot goes is actually such a great twist. I never saw it coming and I thought it was brilliant. There are a lot of family and friendship themes in this story and the grandparents may not be the most generous with giving details about their missing daughter (they are in a lot of pain themselves over it), but they are loving and supportive and doing their absolute best for Tilly. I really appreciate seeing different family units in middle-grade and I appreciate it even more when they are loving and involved, which these grandparents very much are. I am not sure whether or not I’ll read the rest of the series. This book’s story felt complete in its own way and I felt satisfied when I got to the end of it. Then again, I’d probably enjoy spending more time with these characters. I love Tilly and Oscar. I think it is a good choice that in a book about books to have the character Oscar have dyslexia and show how he often reads audiobooks and that yes they count. I love Amelia and both of Tilly’s grandparents. I like Oscar’s mother too. I appreciate it when older characters in children’s books are written as interesting and fully developed people. There is a scary villain in this story, more frightening than I would have expected in a story for this age group, but I’d have probably taken that more in stride when I was in elementary school than I do now.Grandad had always told her to write her name in her books, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that her mum did the same thing when she was little. “It’s about creating a record of who’s read and loved each book,” he would say.” Then there were the grandparents not telling anything to Tilly for eleven long years. This is something I hate in all the middle-grade, YA books where the parents/grandparents keep the MC in dark and I can accept it sometimes if it is explained reasonably but much like anything here, it isn't very convincing.

Tilly and the Bookwanderers - Goodreads

you can’t wait for adventure to find you… You must go and find adventure, and shake it firmly by the hand as you set out towards the horizon together.”She was sure she hadn’t seen their cab swerve in the road to avoid hitting someone, but she was also learning that once you were inside a book anything was possible.” A magical adventure to delight the imagination. A curl-up-on-the-sofa debut from a uniquely talented author.