The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J.Scott Savage

Wonderland is under threat

Celia and Tyrus travel through the portal of one of Charles Dodgson’s diaries to save Wonderland. Along the way they meet a host of colourful characters to help them (some of whom you may remember from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). Celia also learns to accept herself by the end of the journey.

I thought that this was a highly imaginative story, which tried to keep the spirit of the original stories. I could clearly imagine the author’s world of Wonderland. However, some of the chapters were a bit long winded and veered off the central plot purpose making it at times difficult to follow. Celia’s dyslexia could have been explored a bit more thoughtfully.

However, the characters and the settings do capture the imagination. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars.
With Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC which I received in exchange for an honest review.

If you are a fan of Alice in Wonderland, this is the book for you and for you to share with your children. It's a fun, layered adventure that includes all the wonderful puzzles and, well . . . WONDER that one would expect from Alice in Wonderland. The characters are charming, intelligent, and interesting and the storyline is one you will want to dive into. It is very much a love letter to Lewis Carroll. Well done and five stars!

What an absolutely delightful book! I loved this extension of Alice in wonderland. This book would be best suited for more mature readers who. Can handle some tension and fear in a book. Mr. Savage did a wonderful job of capturing the originality of the story and added some wonderful extensions to the story.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good twist on a classic, it was whimsical and magical however I felt it was a little complicated at times considering it is aimed at a younger audience

DNF - I generally do not review books I did not finish, but this needed to be said. The main character in this novel has dyslexia and her IEP generally includes things that would never be included in an IEP. Many teachers would be appalled when reading this and refuse to include it in their classroom library.

I did not read far enough to find out if these accommodations connected to the Alice in Wonderland story. I decided that it didn't really matter if there was a connection. As a reading teacher of many grade levels, I would never want people to believe that there might any way this unscientifically proven accommodation works.

What an awesome idea for a book! It was great to read about what another person's view of Wonderland was like and how the story both kept to the original happenings and explained the "what if" if the story continued. Parts of the story were pretty dark and would recommend it for the upper range of middle grade. I also loved that the story hit on issues of bullying and dyslexia which, as a middle school teacher, I encounter more and more kids with the learning disability that would love to see some one with their condition written into a book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is said Lewis Carroll wrote thirteen diaries throughout his life, but four of them went missing and never found. That is until Tyrus and Celia, two students with their quirks and diverse personalities, found an old chest with a riddle on it that contains said lost diaries.
This will only be the beginning of a mad journey through a portal and into THE Wonderland from Lewis Caroll's books, only that it exists and is in peril. They need The Alice and it seems Celia or Tyrus is the one they're looking for.

Get ready to meet again well-known characters from the books as well some new others as well a few old characters with a modern twist. There are so many familiar elements from the book but still plenty of new things to discover as we follow our main characters through the vast world of Wonderland.

The Lost Wonderland Diaries is a journey as chaotic and rushed as Alice in Wonderland where our little friends retrace Alice's steps but with little twists and turns and more humour and quizzes. This is only the beginning.

It took me a few pages to get into the story. It has this odd writing that Alice in Wonderland has too. I do like that very much, but it needs some time to get used to. Once we follow Celia and Tyrus (I love Tyrus!) into Wonderland, strange things start to happen immediately. I was SO into this story right away! I can't think of anything I disliked, honestly. I think the story was absolutely mesmerizing and so incredibly unique! I honestly think that I love this version more than the original Alice story, haha. It's such an adventure to go on. An Arithman Sea, literally feeling 'sluggish', two sides to The Dutchess, rabbit's with clocks everywhere, some jokes that were LIT, I just can't get enough of it. Every chapter had another thing going on and I thought the writing style couldn't be more enchanting than it was. Literally every page had quotable sentences, memorable characters, genious conversations or crazy stuff going on. It took me only a few days to read the whole book and I feel kind of empty now that it's finished. I can't think of an Alice in Wonderland inspired book that has outdone itself like this book has (and even outshined the original version, in my opinion!). I mean, our 'Alice' in this story has dylexia!? Amazing twist! (Not a spoiler, anyway!) There wasn't a thing I would've liked to see different. The characters felt so real, I loved the dynamics between Celia and Tyrus and I loved how they differed so much from each other but therefore completed each other in their journey together. We meet the characters we love and are so familiar with: the Mat Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, the Dutchess, the White Rabbit, the playing cards and so on, but all in a slightly different way than you know them in your heart. That's exactly why I love this book more than is good for me, haha. It's everything you hope for, but in an original way with a lot more in the most magical way possible. I'm in love!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for admitting me to read this e-ARC.

Loved it! I loved everything about it. The underrepresented characters, the whimsical, crazy Wonderland depiction and the fact that it kept making reference to the original work by Lewis Carroll. It made me want to re-read the original works and find the passages that were referenced in the book. Great work. I recommend it to everyone, but particularly to those who only know Alice in Wonderland via the movies.

#netgalley #thelostwonderlanddiaries

This book was full of adventure and fun! I loved it! The characters and the plot were amazing, this is a great read for young readers!

This book was received as an ARC from Shadow Mountain Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books of all time and when I saw there was a book about Lewis Carroll's real diaries of wonderland I had to jump at the chance and read this book. Celia and Tyrus have found Lewis Carroll's lost diaries of wonderland and get transported in and realize that darkness has fallen over wonderland and it's now run by monsters. Now it's up to Celia and Tyrus to save wonderland and the real world in limited time or they will be trapped inside forever. My inner child was going crazy while reading this book and I know many of our library community will love it too.

We will consider adding this title to our JFiction collection at our library. This is why we give this book 5 stars.

Celia and Tyrus are both different from other kids their age. When they discover four mysterious diaries belonging to Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, they learn that Wonderland is a real place. But the Wonderland they’ve been transported to is different than the one they have read about. Things are not well in Wonderland, and this pair must work together, each using their special gifts, to turn things around before it’s too late.

This is a fantastic fantasy for middle-graders or anyone who loves children’s fantasy. It has all the fun characters and lovely nonsense of Wonderland. I loved all the word and logic riddles. It takes full advantage of all the potential in Lewis Carroll’s writing in such an enjoyable, creative way. And apparently scholars really are missing four of his diaries!

Celia and Tyrus are relatable characters. Watching them grow through this journey was such a pleasure. There are some scary moments of peril, and it gets dark in some places. I felt that those made the message that much more poignant, however. And it’s such an important message. This book is going on the recommend list for all my kids and their friends.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for letting me have the chance to read and review this ARC. This is an amazing and wonderful story written by J. Scott Savage. I've read and enjoyed a few of his other books and I love this one so much!
Also to note here, I didn't think it was possible because of how much I have always disliked, rather strongly, Alice in Wonderland for as long as I can remember, but I have found a version of an Alice in Wonderland story that I like. I enjoyed this story so much, I don't feel like I hate Alice in Wonderland as much now and there were so many great aspects to this story. I can't recommend this story enough. I wish I'd had these books when I was younger, but hey, at least I get to read them now and I can share them with my kids as well.
I learned quite a bit from this story about dyslexia and things that I didn't even realize so this was a good eye-opener to some things and a good story to give me a different perspective into Alice In Wonderland stories that I didn't know I needed.
This story starts with Celia, who's sitting at the library doing homework and playing Minecraft on her phone etc. while her mom, who is the librarian is working and after her Mom assigns her books for her daily reading, which she doesn't like because of her dyslexia issues, Celia notices a boy her age sneaking around in the library.
Celia decides to follow the boy to try to find out what he's doing and catches him messing with the library books and calls him out on it. The boy introduces himself, his name is Tyrus, and we find out along with Celia that he's helping to shelve the returned library books because he loves books and the library so much!
Celia and Tyrus return to the front desk area and start talking and find out they're both new to the area and will both be new to the school that starts soon there so they start talking to each other about being friends and getting to know one another.
As Celia and Tyrus are talking, Celia's mother comes over and asks who he is, they talk with her for a minute and Celia decides to ask her mother if they can help shelve the library books since Tyrus likes doing it so much and her Mom gets all excited and sends them off to shelve library books.
While Celia and Tyrus are shelving the library books, they hear someone calling for help and follow the voice and end up in the office in the back where there's a chest that they have to figure out a puzzle to open it and then they go through the chest and come out the other side, falling down or is it up into Wonderland, where the adventure and fun really begins.
As Celia and Tyrus find themselves in Wonderland and meet various characters and find themselves at the Mad Hatter's tea party, you get a taste of the wonderful whimsy that comes with Wonderland and the character's personalities and stories and such. There is good and bad, both, in Wonderland, of course, and they meet the Queen of Hearts at the castle and while Tyrus is terrified of her, Celia feels like they could be friends until the Queen asks for their help with the chest that Charles Dodgson left behind because he had said that whoever came after him would know how to open the chest and save Wonderland from the haunted monstrosity that is terrorizing everyone.
When Celia says she's not the Alice, that she doesn't know how to open the chest or help, the Queen seems to lose it and through them in the dungeon and then the King pardons them and sends them on their way to find the key to come back to open the chest. They are also traveling with a companion, Sylvan, a rabbit, who was sent to get Celia to help save Wonderland.
As they travel through Wonderland, meeting others, solving puzzles and figuring things out for themselves about everything going on, the haunted monstrosity and themselves, they learn all sorts of things, have lots of fun and grow while having their adventure through Wonderland.
They learn how logic and imagination together make things better and how the two solve problems better together than apart or alone. They learn how to embrace and love themselves and who they are and to not discount themselves or their unique talents. They help others as they go on their quest to find the key to open the chest to save Wonderland and in helping others, help themselves.
This is a wonderful, whimsical, magical tale of a lovely Wonderland with great characters and a lot of good morals, lessons and things to learn and share for yourself, your kids, your family or whoever. I love these kinds of uplifting, feel good, fantastic, magical tales that you can simply enjoy or you can glean a lot of info, morals, and lessons from it as well.
Also, one of the things I enjoy looking at myself as well as with my kids or others is the reading guide they put in the back of these books that help you discuss things and further learn, research, enjoy and expound on the topics in the book as well.
Make sure you put this one on your list, preorder it and get ready for a new favorite awesome book! You don't want to miss this one!