The Book of Lost Things

I bought this book because it originally appealed to me. Basically, a kid using books to cope with life. It's what I do.

David is 12, his mother has just died, his father remarries shortly after, and he suddenly has a new half-brother. He hears his books talk. And suddenly, he is thrust into a world that he doesn't understand.

The land has no name. David comes through a tree into a forest. He meets a Woodsman who desires to help him get to the king so that he can perhaps get home again. So, David sets off with the Woodsman, and later with a knight by the name of Roland.

Throughout his journey, he encounters fairy tales that he has grown up knowing, only they are twisted. Snow White is fat and cruel, Sleeping Beauty is a wicked enchantress, and Beauty and the Beast is turned around, where the Beast is a lady and the man is the love interest.

David is also pursued by a Crooked Man. A man who makes promises in exchange for his little brother's name.

As David travels through the land, he finds himself working through the issues he has. He works on his grief over his dead mother. He works through the issues he has with his stepmother and half-brother. But mostly, he works on himself.

I loved the book. What I got out of it is not likely to be what someone else gets out of it.