In “Pages & Co: The Bookwanderers,” eleven year-old Tilly Pages can see fictional characters. Specifically, her favorite book characters, Alice from Wonderland and Anne of Green Gables keep showing up in her grandparents’ bookshop, Pages & Co. Soon, she is pulled into Wonderland by Alice, and learns that she can bookwander, or travel into books. Unsure of where to turn, Tilly reconnects with an old friend, Oskar Roux, and together they seek out answers to their newfound powers.

I’m glad this wasn’t a “fish out of water” story, and more people can bookwander than just Tilly. There are so many bookwanderers that they have an entire facility full of people regulating the bookwandering world. They have everyone registered, with information about the first time they bookwandered, and they provide training to the newly registered. The facility is a secret to the rest of the world, and they have rules and regulations so that people don’t reveal their existence.

“Pages & Co: The Bookwanderers” has an incredibly basic concept, but bookwandering is written about so often because it is enjoyable to read. There are so many different ways to write about bookwandering, so these types of stories always feel different. Just choosing the genre of books that the characters would go into differentiates these stories substantially. This book is pretty typical at the beginning, with her starting by going into her favorite character’s books, giving readers a base idea of what a typical book world looks like. However, book worlds are expanded upon during her bookwandering training. Tilly is told that while in a book everything around her is real and can kill her, which is why horror and thriller books can be dangerous to wander into. This is why during training Tilly goes into a baby book, where the pages have text like “the girl threw the ball,” as the book characters aren’t responsive, and there isn’t any danger at all.

There is art throughout the pages. On at least every other page, there is some kind of drawing. The art is great, and it’s nice to have a physical representation of some of the stuff mentioned in the book. Some of the pages just have a scene drawn on them, and the art is so much better than I thought it would be, as it is incredibly detailed.

While it does have a basic concept and storyline, it is fun to see what books will be explored, and what the limits of their powers are. While I have yet to read the entire series, it is an enchanting story with well written characters that is incredibly enjoyable to read.