Reviews

Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James

onesownroom's review

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✔️ READ:  QUARANTINE 2021

taliatalksbooks's review

emotional lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Bookwanderers by Anna James was a fun and whimsical way to look at books. This middle grade book is the first in a series, and makes the magic of books really come to life. I do think that this book was a little bit slow to start, since it had a lot of information to set up before diving in to the plot, but I thought that this worked both as the first book in the series, and a stand alone if you didn’t want to get into the whole series. This book focuses on some classic books, and I think if you’ve read them, that will make this story even more enjoyable. But, if you’re like me and somehow happen to have not read most of the books mentioned, this is still enjoyable to read (If you want to know the book mentioned, I’ll leave them at the bottom of this review). I think the characters have some developing to do, but again, this is the first book in the series. If they were fully flushed out, it would make any subsequent books a lot harder to read. Plus, they’re young, and have plenty of time to grow as the age. Though the pacing was a bit slow, I really liked the plot. Once I got into the book, I wanted to keep turning the pages to see what happened next, especially as Tilly started to uncover more and more answers about her own life. Overall, I think this is a very fun read for middle graders, but also do anyone who loves books so much they wish they could step right through the pages into the worlds before them.

Books included in Tilly’s wanderings (among others): 

Alice in Wonderland 
Anne of Green Gables
The Little Princess
Pride and Prejudice 
Sherlock Holmes 
Treasure Island

wintermote's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

An absolutely delightful adventure for bibliophiles of all ages. I can’t wait to share this one with my daughter!

thegigglingwillow's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted

4.5

Anne Shirley and Alice 🥹

auscaz's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

4.25

brando_sando13's review

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

juller's review

4.0

Cute fun book. I wonder if readers thatare unfamiliar with the other stories mentioned in this book like it as much as I did.

rachelschloneger's review

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

wanderingstories's review against another edition

4.0

“So nowadays I try to make a little more space for the impossible to happen.”

3.75 stars from me.

I like the story in itself and think the world-building of the Bookwanderers is interesting and fun to read about. The reason I'm not in love with this book is that I didn't feel for the main character Tilly as much as I could. I thought in the beginning that she was rather noisy and rude. Also the other characters (including Tilly) weren't as descriptive and fleshed out the way I like characters in books.

Overall though I think this is a cute sweet story and I like the concept of book wandering.

alltoomars's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.0