Story Thieves, by James Riley

Story Thieves has two protagonists, which are Owen Conners and Bethany Sanders. Owen believes there must be something out there beyond his boring ordinary life. Bethany is a girl of two worlds looking for her missing father. Her mother fell in love with a fictional character in a book, and he somehow escaped his story to be with her. Bethany has the ability to jump into books and see the fictional worlds that authors created. After her father went missing in a book when she was younger, she was forbidden from ever being near a book again, so she secretly went to libraries to look for her father in different books. When Owen witnesses the impossible jump through books, he is eager to learn more. Owen makes Bethany a deal, he won’t tell anyone about her ability, as long as she has to take him into the finale of his favorite series, but she doesn’t know he plans to save one of the beloved characters from their fate. Owen and Bethany spend the rest of this book fixing the outcome of changing what happens when the storyline changes. 

 

I really enjoyed Story Thieves by James Riley. It was really funny and had amazing adventures. It contained many references to other books and characters. There were many twists that kept you on the edge of your seat while entertaining you with comedic situations and characters. I would recommend this book to any age over 8 because it has easy-to-understand language and very appropriate situations. I read this book a long time ago, and just recently re-read it, and it still was very entertaining, so it can be for older ages as well. I liked how this book interpreted the possibility of magic, and how fictional characters were just ideas that were spawned from an author’s imagination. 

Reviewed by Angelina B., Grade 11

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