The Land of Stories: The Ultimate Book Hugger's Guide

The Land of Stories #Companion

by Chris Colfer

A behind-the-scenes, comprehensive look at the #1 New York Times bestselling series. A combination travel guide, encyclopedia, and exciting fan compendium, this ultimate guidebook includes sections such as "Who's Who," "Places to Go," and "Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Things" that explore the backgrounds and histories of the many characters, places, and magic items throughout the beloved Land of Stories series. This book also includes bonus chapters, insider information about the series, and more, including sketches from the author, "Secrets from the Land of Stories," and "Chris's Top Ten Tips for Writers." Perfect for new and mega-fans alike, this full-color guidebook illustrated by series artist Brandon Dorman captures the magical ins and outs of the Land of Stories we know and love and delivers new, never-before-seen art and information sure to thrill and satisfy readers.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fairy Tales, Adventure, Fiction, Young Adult, Retellings

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2018

About the author

Chris Colfer is an Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actor best-known for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the FOX television series "Glee".

He is also a New York Times bestselling author whose books include the first three novels in the "Land of Stories" series ("The Wishing Spell", "The Enchantress Returns" and "A Grimm Warning") as well as "Struck By Lightning: The Carson Philips Journal" which is a novelization based on the script he wrote for the film "Struck By Lighting" (Colfer also co-produced and starred in that movie).

Reviews

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

➳ 5 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

a wonderful companion to the series!! we get to see some of chris’s inspo, writing advice, early illustrations, behind the scenes pics, and character descriptions and AN INTERVIEW WITH MOTHER GOOSE

i love this book so much 🤭🎀


୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book! I do recommend reading the whole series (#1-#6) before this one. If you don't it will give away a lot of untold information that is in the series.

[Faith M:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this so much:) Behind the scenes of the Land of Stories! So fun!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's not a lot of new content here regarding the stories themselves, but I was fascinated by things like Chris's original rough draft for book one (in elementary school!), his sketches of the characters and the covers, his inspiration for certain characters, his tips for writing, and - especially - his absolutely hilarious interview with Mother Goose.

This book just made me smile, and I needed that so badly these last two days. It also reminded me just how much I loved this series, and how sad I am that it's over.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Creativity is the simple but powerful ability to make something from nothing, and it just so happens that making something from nothing is also the definition of magic"

When I started reading the book I thought it would just be a nice further insight into the world of Land of Stories. It was. But it also was a lot about Chris Colfer.
I loved the insights into his life and the tips that he gave about writing.
For me the book is something every fan should read at least once.
What a journey. This world will forever be a part of me.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A love the sub title: The Book Hugger's guide. These stories are something to love forever. They teach morals, friendship, bravery, smarts, and on and on. One thing...if you read this before reading the whole series some information will be given that you may have wanted to discover during the reading. I think everyone should own this book.

[Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about The "Land of Stories" series, and how the author: Chris Colfer got his ideas. It turns out he had an idea for a fairy tale world when he was only seven years old! He loved reading fairy tales and would always come up with new ideas.

[Gelo Arucan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the entire The Land of Stories series and it's one of my favourite series ever!!

Every time a spin-off (picture book, side stories, etc) is released, I can't help but buy one and read it!!

The Ultimate Book Hugger's Guide is no exception!!

Released after the last book (allegedly) in the series was published, this guide to the series is filled with known and unknown information!

Some of the information, I already knew from reading the series. The others were new information that was just introduced by Chris Colfer in this guide.

Written in the same style as the actual series, I just found myself chuckling and giggling all the time.

This book is definitely a must have for both new and old fans of The Land of Stories series!!

[Vera-Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 Stars

Reading this made me just appreciate the series more. This was just a book of extras. There was more information on characters, places, and spells. However, there are also extra chapters, fan art, more information about the making of the world, and so much more. I loved the interview with Mother Goose and Chris, and the chapter about the character inspirations. They made me laugh. I just really enjoyed this little extra thing to finally finish my reread of this series.
I will say, read this after you finish the series. There are spoilers in here.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't praise this series enough! The Land of Stories is so thoughtfully written, creative and ingenious and the Ultimate Book Hugger's Guide is the perfect compendium to the series. Filled with gorgeous illustrations, encyclopedic information on the series, and insight from the author himself all combine to elevate this wonderful series. A must!

[Tobbi Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nunca pensé que iba disfrutar tanto de una GUIA pero quedé completamente enamorado de todos los extras que hay en este libro sobre el mundo de TLOS.
Todo las curiosidades de personajes, capítulos extras y todo lo que nos cuenta Chris sobre su vida como escritor.

Es un libro perfecto de principio a fin y supero las expectativas que le tenía. Además de dejarme súper feliz y con un sentimiento muy optimista del mundo y la mirada hacia el.

Lo leí en inglés y es de los primeros libros que leo en su idioma original y que la mayoría del tiempo no fue necesario el diccionario y que más que nada lo uses con palabras muy exactas que no entendía pero de igual forma leyendo la frase o párrafo completo se sacaba por contexto.
Sin duda muy recomendado para fans de TLOS y si quieren empezar a leer en inglés es un buen inicio.

[Monica Haak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wat heerlijk!

[Elinor Loredan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a bit of a marketing gimmick, but it is very enjoyable. I particularly liked the character profiles and Colfer's inspirations for them, and the fan art. I disagreed with some of the character trademarks--Jack's, for instance, is bravery. He certainly is brave, but I'd say his main characteristic is humility. Colfer himself writes that Jack never tries to dominate situations or exalt himself.

I love Dorman's artwork for the series, but I have always hated the Fairy Godmother's portrayal. She looks hokey and glitzy instead of elegant and wise, which does not match her description in the books.

Colfer is a bit cocky, but I love his books and hope he keeps going! I enjoyed reading about LOS from his perspective.

[Taybah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't worry guys- I didn't actually take a whole month to read this book lol. I have been stuck reading jane Eyre but ANYWAY I really liked this book! At first when I saw it I thought it would just be a character encyclopedia which would still be cool but I didn't realised how detailed it was! From secrets of BTS and extra short stories, I found this book highly entertaining and something nice to put a smile on my face after reading the depressing stories of Jane!

[I'mogén · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so much fun. The perfect piece to get me back into the Land of Stories vibe, ready for my buddy read in January of the spin off series!


I loved all the variety of types of bonus content and I didn't realise how much influence Colfer had over the art for the world (cover design, maps, chapter heading illustrations, etc)... It was pretty impressive!

Read this in one sitting and it was such a delight!

Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén

[Anna]

Milý průvodce Zemí příběhů, který mi připomněl všechna dobrodružství, která čtenář s dvojčaty a dalšími postavami prožil. Kromě popisů postav a míst se v knize nachází i bonusové kapitoly nebo první nákresy obálek od samotného Chrise. Pro doplnění informací ze Země příběhů je tento průvodce určitě fajn zdroj.💛

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was filled with so many behind the scenes and Land of Stories secrets that you wouldn't know about from just reading the series. My favorite part was the 2nd half of the book which gave great explanations of Chris Colfer's journey through writing the series as well as his art and fan art! Since I have been a big fan of Chris and his books for the past 7ish years, this book was truly a treasure. :)

[Alai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que precioso cuando los autores en serio se toman el tiempo de explicar y explorar su mundo y su proceso creativo.

Me encantó, y probablemente me hubiera gustado más si lo leyera recordando más detalles de la historia, pero aún así fue muy bonito.

[Vendea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neskutečně nádherné ilustrace. Must have pro každého, kdo miluje Chrise a Zemi příběhů.

4/5*

[Peter Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for behind-the-scenes documentaries on Blu-ray and DVD. I sometimes enjoy them more than the actual movie. When I realized that this book was a behind-the-scenes look at Chris Colfer's Land of Stories series (which I loved!), I was totally on board!

I was immediately disappointed. The first part of the book is a general discription of all the characters, places and things in the series, but that was it. My first thought was, "Where's all the background information?! Where are the stories about how and why these characters, places and things were created?! I skipped through most of this section, only pausing to admire the gorgeous illustrations.

Next came the "bonus chapters" section. While the included chapters were a great read, missing again was an information about them. No context about them, no explanations about why they were deleted (were they deleted? I have no idea!).

Next came the interview of Chris Colfer by a very intrusive Mother Goose. This had me laughing in public (so... thank you very much for that!). It was a great read and I finally started enjoying what I was reading.

Then, I got to "Chris's secrets from the Land of Stories" and I nearly jumped for joy! This was what I'd been looking for! He explained how and why his characters were created and I read with thrilling excitement. Sadly, it was just about the Heroes and Villains. I bet there are some great stories about the places he created, too!

The rest of the book is wonderful. He includes original artwork, finished artwork and incarnations between. This is followed by some AMAZING fan art he's received. Including these in his book was fantastic! There are little nuggets from his creative process and then tips about writing. The book started out rocky, but ended on a very high note!

I loved the Land of Stories series and I very much enjoyed (eventually) this sneak peek behind the creation of that series.

[Michelle Jager · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed a bit of hope, and this book gave it to me. The land of stories really is my favorite place to be, and I was happy to be reunited with the characters I’ve missed so much.
I’d recommend this series (*the land of stories) to anyone, whether you love fairy tales or not. Chris Colfer has created a world where fairy tales are real and all of your heroes and heroines, as well as villains, come to life. There is not a word that can describe how much I love this series. I also just love to see how Colfer developed over the different books in the series. his writing skills really improved over the course of the books, and I just love it. Something else that I love, is that Colfer gives each character, the heroes, as well as the villains, a background story. He makes you understand how some of the characters became the villains they are known as, and he makes you identify with them. I love it, I just love it. I also learnt quite a few things from this. I've learnt that villains are sometimes just made by others, and that we are also just a few mistakes away from turning into a villain.

I've been thinking about who my favorite character is from this series, and though I had a really hard time deciding, I have made a decision: Goldilocks. Goldilocks, whom you might know from the story: Goldilocks and the three bears, is depicted as a very strong, independent, kind woman and she is very helpful to the twins (in their adventures). I love how Chris Colfer decided to write about a strong, independent woman, and I love his background story on Goldilocks, which is just really ingenious, and intertwined with the other characters.

I have no bad word to say about neither this series nor this book hugger's guide. It's just AMAZING!!

The illustrations, and covers, of the land of stories are also just amazing. Brandon Dorman is one of the most talented illustrators I know of.

[~just one hopeless romantic~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love ❤️ this book because it tells you all about these fairytales and beyond! I’ve gotta say I really like Alex Bailey And Bree but I wish it would explain some backstories about the villains 🦹‍♀️ 😕 anyways This book was fantastic 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😄😃😀😁😆☺️😉😗😝🤓😻

[Nishi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his books more than I can ever explain

[Makyteckaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

přečteno 29.1.2023

[Jacob Wear · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was such a good book

[Abby Shupe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My interest was peaked with the concept of this, but I will admit, my hopes were sky high and they weren’t met. My entire childhood ages 7-12 was this series, so when I heart there’s a book hugger (me) guide, I ran to my Amazon cart 😂.

The two new chapters weren’t that important, I see why Colfer left them out. But that was still the most interesting part of the book, of course I ate up any more Land of Stories I could get.

I liked seeing the concepts for all of the book covers, the fan art, and drawings of all the characters, but they weren’t what I had imagined in my head, which ruined my perception of the characters and in turn left me disappointed.

I will say, the illustrations of the Fairy Council kind of scarred me for life. Of course, I’ve re read The Land of Stories series 6+ times, so I had images in my mind of what the Fairy Council, and of course all other characters looked like. This definitely didn’t meet expectations 😭, they’re scary looking! Obviously Colfer would say it’s just his interpretation, but yeah if you’re set on what each character and setting looks like, maybe don’t pick this up.

I definitely didn’t know Cinderella’s castle is all purple and weirdly squiggly 😅. And as someone who again, is obsessed with this series, reading the summarys of all the main characters was very boring, as it was all super basic information.

I expected much more, but it’s still Land of Stories context, so 4 stars! 😂

[RumBelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautifully illustrated guide to Colfer's series. Each character, location and many of the spells and artifacts were brought vividly to life with full color illustrations. Each entry had a short description, or biography, if it was a character, chronicling its place in The Land of Stories series.

In some cases though, the biographies left out key details, or left out information. Now, I realize that that would just be an incentive to go read the books, but as someone who had read them, it felt as if information was lacking. This was supposed to be a guide to the series, guides, in my view, explain things better, in some cases, than this book.

In addition to insights into the series, this book also offered incredible detail about Colfer's writing process, his artwork process, fan art from other individuals and never before seen chapters. It was, overall, a very well done companion book.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Colfer began writing the Land of Stories as a kid, eventually becoming a New York Times Best-Selling author. This book is a really cool and engaging explanation and exploration into all of the major protagonists, plots, locations, villains and objects found in each of the books. The other cool part includes Chris's own writing tips, and a bit of a humor thrown in, told by an impromptu interview with the author.
The really intriguing parts of the book (something I would love to see all of my favorite authors do), is showcase their inspiration for the characters and how Chris's long-standing love of fairytales and storybooks, as well as a supportive teacher and grandma, helped shape the Land of Stories' saga into what it is. Told with lots of colorful personal drawings by Colfer, his professional cover artist, Brandon Dorman, fan art from Book Huggers around the United States, this book is a delight for every aspiring writer and bookworm.

[Izzati · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a guide to navigate and/or refresh your memory of The Land of Stories that also includes a sneak peek into how the story came to be. The whole book has major spoilers, so I'd advise reading it after reading all of The Land of Stories books.

I waited for quite a long time to get my hands on this book, but I did worry if it was going to be boring, like some guides tend to be (*ahem* Death Note). But the book was anything but boring. Reading the behind-the-scenes simply made me smile. There are a lot of beautifully drawn pictures and also interesting photos of Colfer from when he got his inspirations for the books.

If all these still make you waver about getting this book, well, there are two bonus chapters that I think add on to the whole experience of The Land of Stories. If you've immersed yourself in The Land of Stories and want to know the process behind it, I totally recommend this book.

[Adina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tato kniha vás provede pohádkovým světem, postavami z Mimosvěta i dalších dimenzí za pár hodin. Ukáže vám zákoutí a tajemství autorovy tvorby. Jeho inspiraci k postavám a na konci se dozvíte, jak začít sám psát.
V knize najdete stovky nádherných a propracovaných ilustrací, které se mně moc líbily. Zde je shrnuto snad všechno, co si potřebujete přečíst hned po celé sérii. Občas tam byly i nudné pasáže, které ale hned vystřídaly zábavné a zajímavé úryvky. Celkově se mi kniha líbila, četla se rychle a bylo skvělé se dozvědět víc věcí jak z autorova života, tak z toho "vymyšleného" (😉).
Hodnocení: 4🌟/5🌟