Mechthild Gläser

"A teen girl discovers she is a book jumper--she can leap directly into books, meet the characters, and experience the world of the book"--

The Book Jumper

Colleen

3 Stars
 
At first glance, The Book Jumper sounds quite similar to Inkheart. And there are a lot of surface similarities. They are both YA stories by German authors about girls who discover a magical family legacy that involves books. But the writing styles are dissimilar, and The Book Jumper is far from being a copycat. Unfortunately, though, The Book Jumper did not live up to my expectations. There were some brilliant ideas. The setting was atmospheric. But things were a bit muddled, the worldbuilding had some holes, and the pieces of the story didn’t meld together well enough.
 
Amy Lenox grew up in Germany not knowing any of her family other than her mother. After her mother has a bad breakup and Amy suffers from severe bullying because a schoolmate secretly took nude photos of her in the locker room then posts them online, they both need to get away for a while. So her mother reluctantly takes them to the remote Scottish Island where she grew up: Stormsay Island. After arriving, Amy discovers that her family has the ability to jump into books and interact with the characters. They are the guardians of the fictional realm.
 
As I mentioned, the ideas were captivating. What book lover would not be over the moon at the ability live in their favorite book?! The idea of entering one’s favorite book is probably enough to make any booklover squeal in delight. And the remote Scottish island was the perfect setting for a tense, atmospheric story. It seemed like a story that would have some meat to it, because it didn’t shy away from tough subjects.
 
Of course, nothing as simple as it seems. There is a rivalry between Amy’s family and the other family with the book jumping ability. There is lots of family drama and prejudice. There are many rules surrounding their jumping and their interactions with the fictional world. And that was were some of the holes in the story started popping up. The jumpers are supposed to be guardians of the fictional world. If anything happens to alter events in their world, then every couple of that book in the world would instantly be altered as well. Guardians train in easy books when they are children and then pick one particular book to watch over. They lose their ability around age twenty-five I believe which sucks. Why do so many books reinforce that growing up is a total letdown? If I had an amazing ability like that and then had to spend the rest of my life without it, I would probably go crazy. Aside from that, I never felt that the guardians were necessary. Or even remotely helpful. It was more like a group of people had the ability to enter books, so they appointed themselves their protectors. But they don’t DO anything. I mean, they can’t really do anything without altering the story, so they are extremely limited. The characters themselves are self-aware. They know that they are in a story and are acting out their plots in an endless loop (which sounds awful frankly). But they continue to follow their storylines where or not the guardians are there, so what is the point? There is a space between the stories, called The Margin, where the characters go when they aren’t in a scene and the jumpers can interact with them there. But other than that, they are really only protecting the books from other jumpers.
 
It also seemed pointless that the jumpers focus on one book to watch over. Because of the abilities only being in two families and only available for a few years, you could count on your fingers the number of people able to enter the book world. So why would anyone only focus on one book? And what happens if there is a generational gap? If one of them waited until after age twenty-five to have children (a reasonable decision), then there could easily be a gap when there would be no jumpers. And the literary world would probably chug along just fine without them. There were too many blank spots in the world building, and I still had a ton of unanswered questions at the end. It felt underdeveloped. There are events and characters that are brought up then left drifting in the wind. Like Amy’s uncle who is mentioned maybe twice in the whole book despite being one of the few people living on the island.
 
Unfortunately, Amy turns out to be something of a Mary Sue. Her book jumping skills are the strongest, of course. She has an instant flirtation with the only eligible boy on the island, Will. I didn’t particularly care for their romance.
 
The story contains many references to books, which was entertaining, but I wonder how many actually apply to the intended audience. This definitely felt like something written by someone who majored in Classics. The children and YA books referenced are traditional stories such as The Jungle Books, Peter Pan, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland. But there were also many references to books that most young teenagers probably have not read books such as Anna Karenina, The Sorrows of Young Werther, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Metamorphosis to name a few. Well, maybe German schools have better literature programs than American schools. That is entirely possible. But it still felt like many of the literary references would go over the heads of most fourteen or fifteen-year-olds. I should also mention that most of the books referenced in The Book Jumper have massive spoilers. Gläser can hardly mention a book without proclaiming how it ends. So expect a lot of spoilers.
 
This book harkens more to the old-style German fairytales where things get a little bleak, and happy endings are not guaranteed. I do generally enjoy stories that haven’t bowed the Disney agenda of fluffy happy overdoses, but I should give a heads up that The Book Jumper is kind of a downer. It isn’t a bad book, but it didn’t live up to its potential.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Even tho it started extremely slow and i had a hard time picking it up, the plot twists in the ending of this book will have me trying to put all the puzzle pieces in place for a while, the characters are lovable and the story is strongly written. 

Joyce Linneweever

katerina

Irina 

3.5
Very interesting concept, book jumping, but the story could have been more exciting. Still a pretty good book even though I would have liked a different ending.

Alexis 

3.5 / 5 stars 

I really enjoyed this book. I saw a lot of mixed reviews so I was hesitant going in. That being said, with low expectations the book blew me away. I love the idea of being able to jump into books and and story's you love! Imagine jumping into a book like Harry Potter or ACOMAF! The disappointment an in my opinion the biggest is the ending. I didn't like anything about it. It felt rushed and I felt like the characters ending should've been better. That being said it was still a very enjoyable and a super fast read!

Sydniee

This was a dream come true for my book loving soul.
I loved everything about it. The details, the writing. The fact that you felt like you were a book jumper ypu self. If only. 
If anyone knows anymore books that are similar, please comment. 😘

Jessi

Stopped maybe 1/2 way through. This book had so much potential but I just could not make myself finish it.

Krystal Campbell 

The best part about this book is the cover.... 

I really enjoyed the concept of being able to jump into a story and live it. But the characters were boring and not relatable and it was lacking a lot of detail that really could have built on the world 

The ending was lacklustre after such a build up...

JacQueline Roe

Beautifully written, rich story concept. I read the English translation & don’t read German, so I can’t compare it to the original. I would prefer less cursing, but that’s just my preference & it didn’t really detract from the story as it was mild.

Beth Bartholomew

Beautiful, escapism, creative, why isn't this book a reality?
 
This fantastic piece of literature is about an island that allows its founding families to jump into the world of books during their younger years. If this isn't something you've not dreamt about, then are you really a reader? I can't imagine anything better than to quite literally be able to jump into my favourite works of literature, to truly explore the worlds. 
 
Amy and her mum return to this magical island after a tough time in their lives, little does Amy know she's going to be able to jump into her favourite books. I love the stories explored in this one book, we see parts of Alice in Wonderland, works of Shakespeare, Peter Pan and so many more. I really found my escape in this book, it was very easy to fall into it and not want to put it down. How cool would it be to be able to jump into the world of a book and really explore it?
 
I believe this is translated from German and occasionally this was apparent, but more than anything, the writing was entrancing and beautiful. I felt like I was reading so many books I loved at once and it certainly made me want to read more classics. If you want to get the urge to read more, this is the right book to delve into, it had me desperate to explore more worlds. 

I've decided I really love books that revolve around characters who love to read, they're the easiest to empathise with. Amy was definitely a character I enjoyed to read about, she was relatable, kind and magical, what's not to love? Also I think I'm a little bit jealous of her ability, but this is only something the young people on this island can do until they're in their 20's at some point, so I think you'd miss it like hell! 
 
I'd love to know you're thoughts if you've read it, so far I've not spoken to anyone else who has. I had this book on my TBR for about a year, it just so happens that on the day I finish it, I learn that this author is releasing another book, a week from today. Who'd have figured?! This book isn't the same storyline, but it still involves my favourite theme of a main character who is book mad, everything she writes seems to come true!

Katie Doyle

Amy Lennox doesn't know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother's childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay. Amy's grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House—but not in the usual way. It turns out that Amy is a book jumper, able to leap into a story and interact with the world inside. As thrilling as Amy's new power is, it also brings danger: someone is stealing from the books she visits, and that person may be after her life. Teaming up with fellow book jumper Will, Amy vows to get to the bottom of the thefts—at whatever cost.

Maggie Shelton 

In this English translation of the hit German young adult novel from Mechthild Gläser, each book is its own world—with its own dangers. Can a young girl navigate these new worlds and get out alive? Amy Lennox doesn't know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother's childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay. Amy's grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House—but not in the usual way. It turns out that Amy is a book jumper, able to leap into a story and interact with the world inside. As thrilling as Amy's new power is, it also brings danger: someone is stealing from the books she visits, and that person may be after her life. Teaming up with fellow book jumper Will, Amy vows to get to the bottom of the thefts—at whatever cost. Praise for The Book Jumper: "The lore of the two families and... descriptions of Stormsay and the library are meticulous and moody, creating a gothic atmosphere that serves this star-crossed love story well." ?Publishers Weekly Praise for The Book Jumper German Edition: "Suspense, action, love and humor: As a reader one wishes one could plunge into the world of books like Amy!" —Bookmark Magazine "Exciting and imaginative, not just for young readers." —Andrea Wedan, Buchkultur "Mechthild Gläser is bursting with ideas—this book is a firework." —Tanja Lindauer, Eselsohr

The Book Jumper

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