Great premise for a series and already inspired a writing project for next year. I think middle school students would be captivated by this book and I look forward to the next one!

What happens when you lose your memory and end up inside of a children’s book?

Lost Between Worlds by Soumya Gudiyella is the first of the Adventures of Varun and Spot Series and is a fun filled sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, adventure novel that kids of all ages would enjoy. This is the story of a boy named Varun who gets stuck in the story of The Jungle Book and has lost his memory. He meets Mowgli as well as the other Jungle Book characters. Varun has to try to regain his memory in addition to finding his way back home while trying to escape the events of the story.

This The Jungle Book reimagined novel is so much fun! It literally pulls you in from the first page. It’s filled with exposition that’s needed to know what’s going on. It also sets things for sequels, right at the beginning. There’s not a lot of detail, but just enough to get to the point and push the story forward. I loved that this included a list of characters right at the beginning. This will be super helpful when read in a school or library setting. Or, if it is reenacted or rewritten by students as an activity. There’s so much that can be done with this! In addition to that, I love that there is also a glossary with non-English words. The only thing that would’ve made it even better was having the pronunciations too!

The illustrations peaking out throughout the novel were drawn beautifully. I liked the line and sketch style as well as the fact that it’s not in color. The greyscale design added more tone to the overall story. The images within the story also add to the story’s plot, giving the visual of what’s going on, at the right moment to make an impact. Fantastic!

If you or your kid like adventure, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, this is for you! It’s best for lower middle grade readers, 8-10 year olds, but older kids would still enjoy it! This is also for anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings or reimagined.

I can’t wait to see what adventures Varun and Spot have next!

*This was an honest review for a complimentary copy of Lost Between Worlds from Soumya Gudiyella via NetGalley

Lost between worlds by Soumya Gudiyella is an adventure book, where Soumya Gudiyella makes Varun a noble character in the story, Varun narrates the beginning of the story, he found himself somewhere unfamiliar to him, he is lost, he tries to understand what's going on, if it's a dream but it appears not, he soon found out after getting a letter from his amma, he's in the time travel world and he's to journey with Spot(a pet) and avani(the virtual assistant of the time travel machine). The letter discomfort him, telling him that he needs to journey home figuring out things by himself, he starts his journey by finding his current location using the help of Avani, he opens a door, which should be an entrance into earth, he meets a young boy and a panther, but he couldn't communicate with him, only by using gestures, he called him Mowgli and he named the panther, Bagheera. They had great fun in the jungle, meeting other friends like baloo the bear, chotu the elephant.

The story unfold the truth behind Varun being lost in the time travel machine, the exchange of Radha for Varun happened when a stubborn student of Vivek class decided to go into the machine without notifying anyone, so he was expelled, but the boy revenge by putting his wife, Radha there, so the Godness of deceit, Maya, demand for the exchange, when Varun turns ten. So Varun mishap was tied to his father''s love for his mother.

I love this book, as it goes on and on, I just love it, it gets to the part where Varun get into another book journey but this time with Sindbad the sailor and flying carpet, that's so cool, would love that the story continued but it ends with the hunt for Varun by Maya and his servant Vajra.

I recommend this book to all children ranging from age 5 to 12 years old, to enjoy it educative, insightful and adventurous story, what the child will benefit from this story will be unattainable from the classroom, the child will learn that no matter what condition life has put you into don't be discouraged. A great future awaits you, that what I think Maya saw in Arun.