Into the Wild

INTO THE WILD is a delightful blend of classic fairytale and thrilling realistic adventure. Julie is a typical teen except her mother is Rapunzel, her brother is Puss n' Boots with an attitude and her grandmother is literally a witch. I loved all the characters and enjoyed the wicked twists on fairytales. I totally recommend this series to anyone who appreciates the magic of a brilliantly crafted story with funtastic characters. I'm glad to hear there's another book coming out from Sarah Beth Durst. I can't wait to read more about THE WILD. I give this book five stars PLUS. Excellent!

Dear Sara- Me and my dad had a great time reading this book. Although I'm only eight, my dad is REALLY old, so he qualifies to help me with this review! I love stories about mysteries, and I thought Puss 'n Boots was really funny. My dad and I read this over a couple of weeks, a little bit every night. My favorite part was when Julie was a princess, and they had the test. That was really funny. I think you did a great job, this being your first book and all. I also liked the part when the wild escaped. Another part is when she met her dad. I liked whern her bike came alive, too. We live in Shrewsbury, next to Northboro. I liked when Spag's was the wizard's house, the ogre's castle was Higgins Armory. I liked it when you used places that I knew in your book. The up the good work! Pam and her Dad

I just re-read INTO THE WILD, and it's every bit as wonderful as I remember it. When Rapunzel and her prince help to free the fairy tale characters of the Wild, Rapunzel settles down to the life of a beautician with a young daughter, Julie (her prince was lost in the fight for freedom). Julie's in middle school now, and she wants to know what happened to her father. She wants her home life to be less weird, starting with the Wild that's under her bed, eating her shoes. She wants normal clothes and a normal life; she wants her mom to stop treating her like a baby. Then the Wild escapes. Suddenly it's eating Julie's town. Rapunzel is a captive once more, and it's up to Julie to save her mom, her grandmother the Wicked Witch Gothel, and everyone she knows from being caught and doomed to repeat the Grimmest of fairy tales over and over. Can she do it? She's a brave girl, but she has no magic, only a knapsack filled with magical devices, Puss in Boots for a brother, and a broad knowledge of each twist and turn of the stories that wait to trap her. This is a smart book with plenty of twists, a funny, determined girl hero and a cast as varied as the unexpurgated Brothers Grimm, with Baba Yaga to keep an eye on things. It's a rollicking read!

Once upon a time, the characters in all the old fairy tales escaped. To our world. Where they live like normal people. Well, almost normal. Okay, Julie, the daughter of Rapunzel, doesn't think there's anything particularly normal about any of them. Or her life. And there is definitely nothing normal about the thing under her bed. Since the escape, Rapunzel has cut off her hair and runs a beauty salon. She and Julie live with Julie's brother, Puss and Boots. Though he just pretends to be the family pet. Julie's grandmother used to be the wicked witch who ate small children. Now she's just a nice old lady with a creepy laugh, who runs an inn. Julie's father, the Prince, never made it out. And the thing under the Julie's bed is The Wild. The Wild used to hold all of the fairy tales. Now it has to be watched and controlled, or else it will try to grow and imprison everyone all over again. It's weak enough to be kept under Julie's bed, but that doesn't stop it from trying to transform everything that gets close to it. Julie's down to only mismatched shoes and flip flops, and you don't even want to know what happened when they tried to keep it in the basement! As long as no one completes a fairy tale act, or makes a wish in the wishing well at Grandmother's inn, The Wild remains safely locked in Julie's room, and all of the characters who made it out are safe. Just like in fairy tales, one day something goes terribly wrong. Someone seems to have got to the wishing well, and The Wild has escaped. By the time Julie gets to it, it's already taken over most of the town. The city is evacuating. And The Wild is growing. When Julie finds out that it's already taken her mom and her grandmother she knows she has to go in and save them, and possibly everyone and everything else. She'll just have to be careful to not get stuck in a story, or accidentally end one, and help everyone she knows remember who they are so they don't get too stuck. And not let The Wild beat her. If she can find her way to the wishing well, and manage to make the right wish, she just might be able to get everyone out of there. Or, she might get stuck in her own fairy tale forever. Who hasn't wished that they could live in a fairy tale? Marry the handsome Prince or Princess and live happily ever after? Sounds great to me. Except when "happily ever after" means repeating the same story, over and over, with no end, and no choices. Then it starts to look a bit frightening. INTO THE WILD is hilarious in parts, sad in parts, and surprisingly honest, given that it's about fairy tales. Almost all of your favorite characters are at least mentioned, even if they don't make an appearance. Some of the stories may seem a little different -- these aren't the Disney versions. Not that it's particularly horrible or scary, just something to keep in mind. All in all, a great book. I enjoyed it immensely! Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman

I love retold fairy tales, mixed up fairy tales, original fairy tales . . . pretty much anything to do with fairy tales. My work in progress is a retelling of a fairytale. Can I just say, I adore fairy tales? So maybe that's why I adored Into the Wild so much. Julie is caught between two worlds - the world of the Wild and its fairy tale stories, and the real world where giants, witches and talking mirrors don't exist. You see, her mother is Zel, a.k.a. Rapunzel. And for a junior high school girl who wants to fit in and be normal, that can create complications. All of the story-book characters (Goldilocks, the Seven Dwarves, etc.) escaped from the Wild years ago. The Wild is a bad place for them, a place where they are forced to reenact their tales over and over. But when the Wild is let loose into the real world and begins taking over the lives of both the fairy tale characters and ordinary people, it's up to Julie - someone who knows more about the Wild than other people, but who also doesn't have a story that she'll be caught in - to find the solution to their problems. Into the Wild is a fantastic story with a spunky main character and a fast-paced plot. The author weaves all of the well-known fairy tales into her book with an ease and clarity that makes the reading of the book a delight. Highly recommended for anyone who loves fairy tales, or is just in need of a good story.