Story Thieves Book Review

"My... my father. He's, um, fictional. You know, from a book." James Riley (Author of Half Upon A Time) writes an engaging story about a boy named Owen who finds discovers a shocking secret. His classmate, Bethany, has a fictional father. This gives her the the ability to jump into and out of books. Bethany's father was lost in a book jumping accident many years ago. She has been searching books for him ever since. One night, Owen sees Bethany climbing out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Owen wants to visit his favorite book. He tells Bethany that there's a spell that can help her find her father there. She takes Owen into the book, but doesn't know Owen's secret plan. Owen wants to try and save one of the main character's lives, and thus breaks the number one rule. NEVER mess with the story. Now, Bethany must fix Owen's mistake before literary characters take over our world, while Owen is forced to live out a sci-fi/ fantasy story that might end up getting him killed. This book is full of references to other fantasy books such as Narnia and Harry Potter that readers will enjoy. Even though this book is classified as fantasy, sci-fi elements like robots, lasers, spaceships, and master computers take the stage in some of the chapters. The violence is kept to a minimum, but their is plenty of action. This book is great for kids 9-13