Mechthild Gläser

The Book Jumper is a YA fantasy by award-winning German author Mechthild Gläser, her first book to be translated into English.

After some difficult events, 17yo Amy Lennox leaves Germany with her mother Alexis, to spend some time on their native Stormsay in the Shetland Islands. Amy meets her estranged grandmother, Mairead Lennox, Lady of Stormsay, and is tasked with going into the book world to protect the stories as her ancestors have done before her. She discovers the Lennox and Macalister clans on Stormsay have the magical ability to jump into books and must overcome their age-old enmity to keep the books intact. She joins with the handsome Will and supercilious Betsy Macalister in entering her favourite stories.

Amy soon discovers something is terribly wrong in the book world and someone is stealing ideas from the stories. She knows she must act fast or the literature she loves will be damaged or erased forever.

This was an enjoyable story, basically every book lover's fantasy, to actually meet the characters from our favourite stories and enter their world. The concept I think borrows heavily from fellow German author Cornelia Funke and her brilliant book Inkheart. Amy is an enjoyable character, a passionate bookworm who has struggled to fit in at school. Possibly she is neurodiverse, but this is not stated. Much of the backstory in Germany was left unexplained. The ending was unusual and a little neat but overall this was a pleasant, light-hearted read.… (more)

The Germans really seem to like the idea of people being able to manipulate text. . . at least. . . if one only read this and the Inheart series that's what they'd think. I would have enjoyed this book more if the ending hadn't been so oddly contrived. . . it was as though the author felt the need to shoehorn in 8 different motifs. However. . . . because this is a work in translation, the awkwardness of the resolution might be attributed to the work of the translator. I found Amy's character to be fairly well done but her mother's character was a bit flat.… (more)