Tilly and the Bookwanderers (Pages & Co.)

Tilly lives above a bookshop with her grandparents. Her mother disappeared when she was a baby. When Tilly is about 12, she starts receiving visits from fictional characters, Anne and Alice. There are secrets her grandparents haven't told Tilly. As she starts to learn those secrets, Tilly starts to explore books and the limits of that book wandering.This is an excellent story. I was worried when Tilly did dangerous things. I admired her courage in the face of danger. I liked her curiosity. This is a fun middle-grade reader and promises to be the first of possibly many book wandering Tilly and her friends will have.

This book was enchanting! I can’t wait to share it with my students. The characters are delightful and engaging. The writing was creative, and I loved the idea of characters walking in and out of books...especially characters and books we love. Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books and enjoyed stepping into her world with Tilly although briefly. I am excited to read the next book.My only negative and THE ONLY REASON it is not 5 STARS is that the first 2 chapters of pages fell out of the book upon reading it.

I absolutely love this book!! I love the way books are celebrated in here. I grew up with my Grandparents who taught me to love to read and that through books I could go anywhere live any adventure. I have read this book twice since getting it and have ordered another copy as a gift. I’m looking forward to reading the others in the trilogy.

What an adventure! This book pulled me in and let me experience books like I have never experienced them before. I want to go to Pages and Co. just to wander the shelves, the world building and character development was wonderful.

Adorable story and it came signee by the author. Great for late elementary readers who know all the book references mentioned inside.

A phenomenal story about the magic of stories! I adored it!I sincerely hope that there is at least one or two more adventures with Tilly in the future!

Hi, this is AR talking about Pages and Co™. I am giving this review 5 out of 5. I recommend this book for all ages. So if you stumble upon this book, don't think twice when buying this book!This is AR signing out for the day. Bye & have a great day!

I love this book, so much that I bought another copy to share! I can't wait to read this to my daughter when she gets older. I just know she'll love it too

This is such a magical story, and I look forward to reading it to my kids one day in the future. I was apprehensive about starting it, as I've recently come out of a bad run of books, and I just was not sure how it was going to be.During a quiet shift at work, I zipped through this in no time. The chapters are short, and the book just feels weighed down in magic. Anna James has done a remarkable job with weaving your childhood fantasies into a story, including some of my favourite books, including Anne of Green Gables.Matilda/Tilly is the main character, who welcomed me into this book with open arms, if that was at all possible. I can see any young children, boys and girls, enjoying this, as Oskar (Tilly's friend) is also a likeable, if not mysterious character. I hope we find out more about him in the sequel.If you fell in love with reading as a child, whether it be through school, or your parents reading to you, or you've read books along similar lines (Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha Van Leer, is one that comes to mind), I would highly recommend picking this up. I also managed to get my hands on a signed copy via Amazon, unknowingly, which was a lovely surprise.If this book had been around when I was young, I think I would have viewed books a lot differently to how I did and I will certainly be reading some of my childhood favourites in a new light.

This middle grade set in London was a real treat to read. As a 30something year old woman from the UK, I found this book extremely charming and it gave me some real nostalgic vibes of how much I enjoyed reading as a child. Most of the story takes place in an old bookshop owned by Tilly’s grandparents where some of Tilly’s favourite book characters start turning up to say Hi and take Tilly and her friend Oscar into their books. The main mystery throughout the whole story is, where is Tilly’s mother? What happened to her and is she going to come back before the book ends? Why is Mr Chalk so creepy? It’s up to Tilly and Oscar to figure out. The only criticism I have with this story is it gets a bit too far-fetched towards the end, in my opinion. Overall it was a pleasure to read and I’m looking forward to the next book in this trilogy which should be releasing next year. On another note, the physical book is absolutely stunning with cute illustrations dotted throughout.

Matilda ‘Tilly’ Pages lives with her grandma and grandpa who own a cosy bookstore called Pages & Co. Naturally, Tilly has grown up as a proud bibliophile and often prefers fictional characters to real people and longs for an adventure beyond her mundane life. It doesn’t take long for Tilly’s wish to come true, when characters from her favourite books start popping up in the bookstore and open Tilly’s eyes to the world of all things Bookwandering.When I read Matilda ”flopped dramatically into a chair” and ”flung her head theatrically” - it was the moment I knew I was going to enjoy this book and it’s protagonist, and that was only page one. An utter delight and true pleasure to read. Truly, I had a smile plastered on my face throughout reading this. I wasn’t even 50 pages into it and I knew this was a book I’ll happily reread again in future.We follow eleven year old Tilly, who’s on her school holidays and feeling dejected after her closest friend has moved on to a new friend group, leaving Tilly behind. As much as Tilly’s grandparents try to keep her spirits raised, they remind her of her orphaned origins without her mother or father around to love and support her. It’s no surprise Tilly turns to reading to find solace - being a bookworm is in her blood - although it soon becomes clear Tilly’s not just a bookworm, but a bookwanderer: a reader who can travel into stories and bring characters to life. And we’re off on an adventure! Along with Anne of Green Gables, Alice of Wonderland and Tilly’s neighbour Oskar, we journey to Avonlea, Wonderland, the high seas and ultimately discover friendship and a palpable plot twist.Pages & Co. Tilly and the Bookwanderers is a children’s story that doesn’t leave you wanting for anything other than the next instalment. Even though I would say the book lost a little momentum by the middle of the story, it picked up again toward the end and ends setting up the sequel and tonnes of potential bookwandering stories.If you or your kids love the adventures of books and classics like Alice in Wonderland, or even the Night At the Museum films and the TV show Once Upon A Time, then this will be right up your alley. It’s sheer wonder and the definition of cosy, happy reading. I can’t recommend it enough!Also, I have to mention how beautiful the book is. I have the hardcover and the design is so eye catching. The book has a variety of lovely illustrations and fonts that effectively liven up the reading experience, which I imagine will be beneficial for kids engagement. Big well done to the publishers for the book’s internal and external design, it makes the book all the more enchanting.

Every once in a while a book will come along that makes you reminds you just why you fell in love with reading. Tilly and the Book Wanderers is that book for me.It is the story of Tilly, a young girl who lives with her grandparents. Her mother disappeared when she was a small child and she never met her father but growing up with in her grandparents care and indeed in their book shop has been a pretty wonderful experience.However, when a strange visitor comes to the shop a whole new world opened up to Tilly. One that is almost unbelievable but by golly it is fabulous.Anna James truly brings new meaning to the term getting lost in a book. The adventures that Tilly goes on have made me jealous. Had I encountered this sort of magic when I was a young girl I would have been even more enchanted than I am as a 35 year old.Tilly and the Book Wanderers is such a special book that I am keeping my copy for when my niece is a bit older. I want her to feel the magic of such special story telling.Tilly and the Book Wanderers by Anna James is available now.

Eleven-year-old Tilly finds she can follow her favourite book characters into their worlds. Will she uncover what happened to her lost mother?Someone mentioned this children’s book to me, and it sounded intriguing in relation to something else I was thinking about, so I had a look. It is intriguing, with a clever plot twist and some very good scenes (my favourite is when Tilly goes into the world of a Peter and Jane primary reader).It had two problems for me, though. First, it was less interesting when Tilly entered books I was unfamiliar with. Second, it got bogged down towards the end in unnatural dialogue explaining the complicated rules governing the magic, and thereby lost my interest.