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Book Review of The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J. Scott Savage

Lost diaries? What?!?! There’s more Wonderland? More adventure, more crazy potions, more interesting characters, and more Queen of Hearts? Sweet! Sign me up! These were my thoughts when I heard that J. Scott Savage had a new book coming out called The Lost Wonderland Diaries. I’ve read many of Savage’s books and have enjoyed them! He has such a fun imagination! To be honest, I haven’t ever read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I know, right?? I don’t know how I haven’t read it. I have watched the Disney cartoon many times, though, so I do have some knowledge of the story. In any case, I’ve now read the new adventure from Wonderland—keep reading to find out what I thought.

Blurb:

“Something monstrous wants to exit Wonderland and enter the real world.

Lewis Carroll, author of the classic book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, secretly recorded the true story of his actual travels to Wonderland in four journals which have been lost to the world . . . until now.

Celia and Tyrus discover the legendary Lost Diaries of Wonderland and fall into a portal that pulls them into the same fantasy world as the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. However, Wonderland has vastly changed. Some of the characters that Tyrus remembers from the book have been transformed into angry monsters.

Helped by the Cheshire Cat and a new character, Sylvan, a young rabbit, Celia and Tyrus desperately work to solve puzzles and riddles, looking for a way out of Wonderland. But the danger increases when the Queen of Hearts begins hunting them, believing the two young visitors hold the key to opening multiple portals to multiple worlds, and she will stop at nothing to capture them.

Will the crazed creatures of Wonderland escape into the real world? Can Celia and Tyrus stop them and save both worlds? Or will they be trapped in Wonderland forever?”

My Book Review:

What a fun adventure! J. Scott Savage has managed to bring Wonderland back to life for a new generation of readers! This book has many of the characters we all love and are familiar with. To make it even more fun and imaginative, Savage introduces a few new characters. Meet our new friends Celia and Tyrus. Celia recently moved to the area when her mother took a job as the head librarian of the local library. Celia hangs out at the library a lot because her mom works there, but she does not enjoy reading. Celia is dyslexic and finds it difficult to read. She loves math, though!

Tyrus LOVES reading! He hangs out at the library all summer because he wants to. Crazy kid! J/K…that would describe me perfectly. Tyrus has also just moved to the area and he, like Celia, will be attending a new school in the fall. They are both super nervous about attending a new school. At first, Celia doesn’t even want to be friends with Tyrus because she finds his reading habits a bit annoying. That was before they both started hearing voices in the library calling for help…

Haha! Yes! That is how this new adventure begins. As I stated previously, J. Scott Savage has quite the imagination! This book is well written. It’s easy to read and understand, flows well, and grabs your attention from the beginning. The characters are well developed. I love the variety of the characters. There are super cute and fluffy characters, crazy characters, scary characters, and characters that can be all of the above! Many characters have changed (for the worse) since Alice’s story came out, and that puzzles Celia and Tyrus.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book were the puzzles that Celia and Tyrus had to figure out in order to progress in their journey. I think it’s a fun addition because it makes you think right along with the characters. Another thing I enjoyed about the book was that it highlighted dyslexia. As a teacher, I see the struggle that children with dyslexia have, and I think it’s a disability that no one really talks about. It’s a disability that is easy to forget about, but it makes it so hard for these kids to read and learn. Seeing a character with dyslexia struggle but find ways to thrive will be so beneficial for many children. I applaud J. Scott Savage for highlighting this. I hope there will be an audio version of the book so the children who suffer from dyslexia will be able to enjoy this book too!