Anna James - Pages & Co. - Tilly and the Lost Fairy Tales

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019

Published in this ebook edition in 2019

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Text copyright © Anna James 2019

Illustrations copyright © Paola Escobar 2019

Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Anna James and Paola Escobar assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008229900

Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008229924

Version: 2020-04-21

For my mum and dad, who have always let me find my own path.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019 Published in this ebook edition in 2019 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk Text copyright © Anna James 2019 Illustrations copyright © Paola Escobar 2019 Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Anna James and Paola Escobar assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008229900 Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008229924 Version: 2020-04-21

Dedication For my mum and dad, who have always let me find my own path.

1. A Little Magic

2. Fairy Tales are Funny Things

3. Slightly on the Outside

4. A Less-Than-Ideal Situation

5. Something Strange is Afoot

6. Riddles and Obfuscation

7. Book Magic

8. What an Adventure

9. Something Wild and Beautiful

10. A Deep, Dark Forest

11. What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

12. Find Your Own Path

13. What Great Teeth You Have

14. Prince Charming at Your Service

15. The Three Bears

16. The Crack in the Sky

17. I Need to Come Up With a Better Story

18. There’s Never Only One Way Home

19. Some Truth to Every Story

20. It’s the Journey, Not the Destination

21. A Book Will Welcome Any Reader

22. A Plot Hole

23. No One is Too Old For a Bedtime Story

24. No Rules for Reading

25. Whose Magic is it Anyway?

26. Looking in the Wrong Places

27. The Meaning of Life

28. All Part of the Plan

29. Evidence

30. An Enemy of British Bookwandering

31. The Crux of the Matter

Epilogue: Three Months Later

Once Upon a Time …

French Glossary

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Publisher

ive people proved to be far too many to fit inside a wardrobe.

‘Remind me again why we had to bookwander from in here?’ Tilly asked, face squished uncomfortably close to her grandad’s shoulder.

‘As I rather think you know,’ he replied, ‘we don’t technically have to bookwander from inside a wardrobe – but it adds effect, don’t you think?’ But he sounded decidedly less sure than when he’d first suggested the idea half an hour ago.

‘I mean, if the effect you’re going for is a much closer relationship with each other and our personal hygiene choices, then, yes, it does add effect,’ Oskar said, voice muffled by Grandma’s scarf, which was simultaneously tickling his nose and getting fluff in his mouth every time he spoke.

‘I bet the Pevensies didn’t have to deal with this,’ Tilly said.

‘Yes, but they were emptying straight out the other side of their wardrobe,’ Grandma said. ‘Which does rather give them an advantage.’

‘Yes, yes, okay,’ Grandad admitted. ‘It has become abundantly clear that my attempts at a little poetry and whimsy weren’t entirely thought through.’ He shuffled his way back towards the door and shoved it open. Tilly, her best friend Oskar, her two grandparents and her mother all fell gasping into the cinnamon-scented air of the bookshop.

‘I mean, it isn’t even a wardrobe,’ Oskar complained. ‘It’s a stock cupboard.’

‘Honestly,’ Grandad huffed. ‘I was just trying to add a sense of adventure. Mirror the journey into Narnia, have some fun. Goodness knows we could all do with a generous dollop of fun at the moment. A little magic.’

‘It’s already literally magic,’ Tilly pointed out.

‘I’m wasted on this family, I truly am,’ Grandad said. ‘Shall we try again from out here? We’ve still got an hour or so before we need to go to the Underlibrary for the Inking Ceremony.’