The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale

The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale by Ben Miller is an adventure for 8 year olds about a girl finding magic during a trip to the shops.

What happens

Lana misses playing with her brother Harrison. Since starting senior school he's decided to be very serious about everything. The games they used to make up together have given way to homework and a closed bedroom door.

A shopping trip with Mum doesn't sound like much of a replacement. But a new supermarket has appeared in the village overnight. Inside, Lana finds a way into a fairytale world.

The people there need help with an evil witch. These stories are more dangerous than the ones Lana expects. To help, she'll need Harrison beside her and ready for an adventure again.

You get a good feel for what Lana is missing before the magic begins. She keeps asking whether her brother wants to play and offers to let him choose the game. He's busy trying to look grown-up, right down to copying their dad's serious manner.

If your reader has an older sibling who's suddenly too busy for them, those scenes may feel very familiar. Lana tries to brush off the disappointment. When she tells her mum she misses him, you can hear how much it hurts.

The supermarket brings plenty of silliness with it. Mum gets very excited about bulk packs of toilet roll while Lana would much rather find the books. A shop appearing from nowhere seems rather less important than a good offer (at least to Mum).

You know something odd is happening before Lana does. The opening shows the building rising out of the ground during a storm. That makes the ordinary shopping trip feel full of possibilities, even when Lana thinks it's going to be boring.

The darker fairytales are worth knowing about. There is an evil witch and the people in the storybook world are in danger. A child who finds threatening fairytale characters upsetting may find those parts worrying.

For a reader who likes wondering what might be hidden in an everyday place, the strange shop is a lovely way into the adventure. The wish to have her brother beside her gives Lana another reason to keep trying.

What to read next

Harrison has his own extraordinary problem in The Boy Who Made the World Disappear, also in the library. A black hole he receives at a party starts taking things he never meant to lose.