Jane's Adventures In and Out of the Book

I found this in the book crossing; I have a friend whose daughter likes books about children going into books, so I thought I'd give it a try

It's... odd and not very engaging. It has that Alice in Wonderland feeling of little episodic adventures, where you get to know some curious characters in a strange place, and then move on.

I assumed that the story would be that Jane finds Clarissa, who had fallen into the book and become stuck 200 years ago, and now haunts the castle as a ghost, and rescues her, Instead, Jane finds Clarissa, they have a wonderful week living together on a lily and riding a giant fly, and then Jane realises that she has to leave and go home to her parents and leaves Clarissa with tears in her eyes.

Jane's homelife show more is as random and strange to the modern reader as her dream life in the Book. She is the child of Lord and Lady Charrington, and lives in a huge rambling castle, completely free to disappear for weeks at a time. She watches her entire home be flooded, and then her father renounces his title (to her mother's sadness) and the book ends with them moving into a council house.

Jane is a nice character though. She is very game, and happy to put herself in all manner of dangerous situations to save her friends or drain the flood. She always goes very well equipped too, with penknife and rope! show less