The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell (Book 1)by Chris Colfer

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairytales. The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought. (goodreads.com)

I had planned to finish this book earlier in the summer. I started it sometime in June, actually. This was nothing against the book, but that I was keeping it aside as my Middle of The Night Book. I often have many a night where sleep just isn't my friend, and this book was somewhat of a comfort. I try to keep light, happy books available for my Middle of The Night reading, and this one was all fairy tales and adventure, so I figured it would be a good bet. It was! Sadly, (well, not really) I didn't have as many sleepless nights as I normally do, therefore this book took longer to read than normal.I have to say I was highly sceptical of The Land of Stories at first. Although I was curious because normally this would be a book right up my alley - middle grade, fairytale, magic... but I let myself be swayed by the author. Could "That kid from Glee" really write a decent book? Sure Chris Colfer's character was the only redeeming thing about the show (I had a brief love affair with Glee. Very, very brief. Kurt was the only person I liked and I LOVED his character.) but could the boy write?Once I heard Colfer speak at the Children's Author Breakfast during BEA, I had much higher hopes for this book. He was just a fantastic public speaker, witty and really sharp and on the ball when it came to improvising. He called John Green the "Justin Bieber of the book world" which nearly made me choke on my juice. He was so earnest about telling us where the story came from and how he thought of it when he was 10 years old. I knew then I had to read this book with a completely open mind and not think about WHO wrote it.This first book by Chris Colfer is certainly a fun middle grade book and I think many a kid (and adult) will enjoy it. The dialogue is slightly simple and obvious at times, but I really only felt that during the first third of the story. There is humour, adventure and I have to admit a whole bunch of imagination. I was constantly impressed with each fairytale character's story "outside of the real story". I was truly amazed and enchanted by Colfer's idea of who these characters were and how the Land of Stories was broken up. I don't want to give specific examples because I feel like that would spoil some of the fun. Learning about Red Riding Hood, Goldielocks, Jack from Beanstalk fame, Snow White, the Charmings... it was all just so much fun and so magical!I'm the type of person who always loves the origin episode of a cartoon or tv show the best. When those X-Men cartoons would do flashback episodes as to who various members were found, I was riveted. When Jem & the Holograms flashed back to how Aja and Shana came to live with the Bentons as foster children - I held my breath for almost the entire 22 minutes of that episode. *dreamy sigh* Er... so, yeah... having this book talk about the characters we know and often love in a different light is just so exciting to me. Even if it's all made up. I was still awed by Colfer's imagination in this book!Obviously there will be more adventures in this Land of Stories, since this first title says it's book one, and I for one look forward to this even with my Series Exhaustion!Middle grade fans and fans of fairytales will certainly love this book!