The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1)

Fantasy · Comedy · Parody

Print length: 438 pagesScholastic, 2012

Description

Twins Alex and Conner Bailey fall through a treasured book and enter a world where familiar fairy tales have continued beyond their famous endings. Stranded among uneasy kingdoms, they learn that the Wishing Spell may offer a route home, but invoking it requires a collection of rare objects scattered across dangerous territories. Their search carries them toward Snow White’s troubled castle and into encounters with figures whose lives differ sharply from the old stories, including a concealed Frog Prince and a battle-ready Red Riding Hood. Each stage turns remembered folklore into a problem the twins must navigate for themselves. The adventure combines a quest structure with comic revisions of fairy-tale roles, while keeping the siblings’ return home at its center.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Dialogue-driven · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Humorous · Playful · Suspenseful · Warm

Structure

Episodic · Linear

Focus

Plot · Relationships · World

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

BelongingFamilyFriendshipIdentitySurvival

About Chris Colfer

Chris Colfer is an American actor, singer, and author whose career moves between performance, screenwriting, and children’s fiction. He first gained wide recognition as Kurt Hummel on the television musical Glee, then extended his work behind the camera with Struck by Lightning, a coming-of-age comedy he wrote, produced, starred in, and adapted as a novel. His best-known books belong to The Land of Stories, a fantasy series that sends twins Alex and Conner Bailey into a realm where familiar fairy tales continue beyond their traditional endings. Across that series and Tale of Magic, Colfer builds accessible magical worlds around brisk plots, close relationships, and conflicts involving power, fear, and divided loyalties. His prose is generally direct and dialogue-driven, often using wit and adventure to revise inherited storybook conventions. What distinguishes the work is its combination of popular storytelling instincts with an interest in what happens after familiar narratives end, and in how young characters find their place within worlds shaped by older stories.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Scholastic
Language: English
ISBN: 9780545647939

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