The Book Jumper

Gr 7 Up—At the beginning of this fantasy, Amy and her mother leave Germany for Lennox House, their ancestral home on the Scottish island of Stormsay. Amy's mother left long ago when she was pregnant with Amy, and she has recently broken off an affair with a married man. Meanwhile, Amy has endured bullying at her school, and after a picture of her without her bikini top in the locker room is posted on the Internet, she longs even more to get away. Once at Lennox House, Amy makes a startling realization: she and her family are book jumpers—people who enter books and engage with the characters inside. This should be a delightful discovery for Amy, who adores reading. However, a malevolent monster has awoken, and stories are being destroyed. It is clear that book jumping is no longer safe, but still, the stories must be protected. After Sherlock Holmes washes up dead and a tiny little princess turns out to be much more than she seems, it is up to Amy and her new friend, Will, another book jumper, to defend the stories. With numerous references to classics, from The Jungle Book to Pride and Prejudice, the novel sparks curiosity about literature and, perhaps, will encourage teens to track down the works mentioned here. Some readers may find the quick switches between Amy's perspective and a third-person narrator's point of view occasionally jarring, but many will connect with the tale of family secrets and new powers and will want to race to the end to learn the monster's identity.