The day I fell into a fairy tale by Ben Miller, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini

 A mysterious shopping center appears in the middle of a village one night, and thus begins an exciting adventure. Lana misses her older brother, Harrison, who's very busy studying now that he's entered middle school, so when she visits the strange shopping center, meets a mysterious man, and gets her hands on a book of fairy tales, she's delighted by the distraction. She's shocked when she discovers that the bins of candy at the store will let her travel into the fairy tales and the next thing she knows, she's getting mixed up in the story of Sleeping Beauty.

She makes multiple journeys into the fairy tale world, eventually accompanied by her brother, and despite her parents' attempts to take away the fairy tale book (and the weird and creepy behavior of the little old man). Eventually, with the help of the prince, there's a happy ending for everyone, including Sleeping Beauty's children, Hansel and Gretel, and Lana and Harrison race to return home, arriving just as the magic supermarket begins to break up and sink back into the ground...

SPOILERS

Just in time, Lana saves Harrison from falling into a crack, but the last chapter reveals that they are playing in their treehouse, their imaginations having been fired by the book of fairy tales. The book includes excerpts from various fairy tales, in an italicized script. The fairy tales are slightly changed - for example, the good fairy in Sleeping Beauty was about to give her the ability to find lost socks when the bad fairy shows up, and so on. There are black and white illustrations throughout the book, mostly decorations and motifs, but there are a handful of full page pictures of the characters. The book winds a number of different fairy tales into the Sleeping Beauty story and does include some of the grimmer aspects, like the ancestor of the prince being killed in the thorns (he is, naturally, a fortune-hungry scoundrel and the prince who saves her is respectful and only kisses her hand, since it's rude to touch someone without permission.)

The author is a British comedian and actor who has written a number of books, including one for each of his children. This one is written for his daughter, Lana. It's been well-reviewed in several places, and it was mildly humorous with a plot that many children will enjoy. It's definitely the lower end of middle grade; Lana is 9 and the book is just over 200 pages long. There are certainly Britishisms in the book, but nothing that readers can't easily figure out. However, I personally was not impressed. None of the characters ring true - Harrison sounds like he's much younger than he's supposed to be, especially when he's apparently learning basic science principles for the first time, and self-importantly focused on learning about people like Archimedes. Lana appears to not be attending school and just hanging around at home with nothing to do, while her parents vaguely console her about not having a playmate and go back and forth about letting her read the "scary" book of fairy tales. The ending, especially, is hurried and confusing, with a jarring drop from fantasy to "it was all a dream" and it was also disappointing that the prince rescues everyone in the conclusion of the fusion of fairy tales.

Verdict: There are quite a lot of fractured fairy tales out there, as well as books based on fairy tales, and this is an additional purchase at best if you happen to have fans of Miller's other books.

ISBN: 9781665949736; Published April 2024 by Aladdin; Galley provided by publisher