The Strangeworlds Travel Agency: Book 1

By Author / Illustrator

L.D. Lapinski

Genre

Magical Realism

Age range(s)

Publisher

Hachette Children's Group

ISBN

9781510105942

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

30-04-2020

Synopsis

Pack your suitcase for a magical adventure! Perfect for fans of The Train to Impossible Places and The Polar Bear Explorers' Club. At the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, each suitcase transports you to a different world. All you have to do is step inside...

When 12-year-old Flick Hudson accidentally ends up in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, she uncovers a fantastic secret: there are hundreds of other worlds just steps away from ours. All you have to do to visit them is jump into the right suitcase. Then Flick gets the invitation of a lifetime: join Strangeworlds' magical travel society and explore other worlds.

But, unknown to Flick, the world at the very centre of it all, a city called Five Lights, is in danger. Buildings and even streets are mysteriously disappearing. Once Flick realizes what's happening she must race against time, travelling through unchartered worlds, seeking a way to fix Five Lights before it collapses into nothingness - and takes our world with it.

A magical adventure for 9+ readers that will take you to whole new worlds. 'Assured, witty and inventive. This debut has "future classic" written all over it.' - The Guardian

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Reviews

Fans of Narnia and The Lost Magician rejoice, this magical filled adventure is like no other.

Hidden worlds explored through suitcases - The Strangeworlds Travel Agency: Book 1 is the perfect addition for portal story topics. Flick, who is new to town with her family, is just an ordinary girl. Little does she know when she happens across an archaic looking travel agency brimming with suitcases adorning the walls that she is far from ordinary and this is where her adventure begins.

Flick discovers, with the help of Jonathan, that there are many other worlds waiting for her. All she has to do to visit them is to step inside a suitcase. Unknown to Flick, however, a world at the centre of it all - a city called Five Lights - is in peril. Streets and buildings are disappearing overnight. Will Flick be able to save the city and its inhabitants before it is too late?

Not only is this book the perfect support to exploring portal stories but it also highlights friendship themes, with a female heroine at the centre of the action. This is a great book for adventure lovers and those enthused about the notion of alternate worlds. The Strangeworlds Travel Agency is filled with descriptions from the wildest realms of your mind.

384 pages / Reviewed by Kelly Buxton, teacher