I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the children I read it to loved it as well, it absorbed me from the start and I stayed there til the very end.
It feels like the next step up from all of the fairy tales I read as a child I loved this book.

I received a free digital copy from Net Galley in exchange for a honest review.

This story draws from the original Alice in Wonderland stories by Lewis Carroll. One of the human characters is supposed to be related to Lewis Carroll. The girl loves math but hates to read. The boy loves to read.

They encounter interesting characters from Wonderland.

Warning: there are some scary scenes. I think this book is for older children.

I really enjoyed reading The Lost Wonderland Diaries. The Lewis Carroll books are some of my favorites from childhood so I really love reading other works that use them as inspiration to continue the adventures. I liked the book so much I read it to my daughter and she enjoyed it as well. Looking forward to more books by this author.

Note: I voluntarily read a free copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are mine alone.

The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J. Scott Savage is a love letter to Alice in Wonderland.
Celia, a newcomer to town fears going to school and having people she find out she’s different, being dyslexic she has a hard time with words but numbers she handles alright. At the library her mom just took a job at she meets book loving Tyrus. Also new to town and suffered bullying in his previous school. The two don’t quite hit it off from the start, but as they hang out in the librarian’s office they come across a box containing the four missing journals of Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll. The two get sucked into a vortex and find themselves inside Wonderland.
Dodgson stories of Wonderland are based on a real world he traveled to but the Wonderland he’d gone to and the Wonderland Celia and Tyrus experience are very different. Something has changed Wonderland into an almost nightmarish landscape and Celia and Tyrus have to rely on each other and Sylvan, their bunny guide who brought them looking for The Alice to save Wonderland.
Throughout Celia and Tyrus come across puzzles and riddles and very familiar characters in unfamiliar ways and they need to discover and answer one of the most important questions, “Who are you?”, to make it through
***
This was a fun story. A bit darker than the Alice of Carroll’s but a wonderful ode to it. I loved the clues that tied to the original story and the take on the different characters. I also just enjoyed Celia and Tyrus. They were just two kids working with what they had, trying to do their best. It was a fun quick read.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Cheshire Cat got your tongue?”
—J. Scott Savage, The Lost Wonderland Diaries

Now, I am a MASSIVE fan of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. So, whenever I see a retelling, it is automatically placed onto my TBR pile. I have an addiction…

This story follows Celia and Tyrus as they are thrust into Wonderland— only it is not Lewis Carroll’s classic tale. There is something wrong, almost sinister. The white rabbit has become a scary beast. Time is at a standstill. Symmetry is the Red Queen’s main desire. And a horrifying figure is causing the destruction of Wonderland. But can Celia and Tyrus help? Can they save Wonderland?

However, the two main characters in this book, Celia and Tyrus, annoyed me slightly. While they were mainly a delight read, there were some inconsistent moments. For instance, they would both firmly believe something, and then suddenly believe the exact opposite and I just saw little progression into why this happened.

On a different note, I was enthralled by the wonderland characters. Whenever I see my Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, I am instantly delighted. Lewis Carroll seriously created such wonderful characters, and they seem to be wonderful in all the retellings too!

Thank you so much NetGallery and Shadow Mountain Publishing for this advanced readers copy! A spellbinding read for middle grade readers.

Read. Be happy. Stay safe.

#TheLostWonderlandDiaries #NetGalley

Celia is smart at math, but doesn't like to read, her mom is a librarian and wants her to be a reader. Being new in town, Celia worries about starting school and being made fun of. Celia doesn't like to read because she can't see the letters the same way everyone else does. While at the library, where her mom works as a librarian, Celia meets Tyrus, who is also a new boy in town. When Celia and Tyrus discover a box of lost diaries, they find themselves spinning into Wonderland. Wonderland is a place of talking animals and a world full of math. Celia and Tyrus need to help Wonderland repair itself, but they also have many adventures along the way. A story that captures the reader's attention, but is also teaching that friendship, believing in yourself, and not listening to the voices that hurt, that are important.

This books is such fun! It had just the right amount of Wonderland madness. Kids that enjoy solving puzzles will really like the riddles inside. Though the main characters are polar opposites, they work so well together.

“Something monstrous has been found in the magic world of Wonderland and it wants to get out.” https://www.jscottsavage.com/books/the-lost-wonderland-diaries/

I read the classic story of Alice in Wonderland many years ago as a senior. All I really remember is that my teacher criticized my portrayal of Alice telling me that I didn’t know anything about four-year olds. She was right, I didn’t. But I did understand that no one would really believe the story about Wonderland other than as the make-believe experiences of a young girl named Alice.

Then along comes the story told in The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J. Scott Savage. Celia is a soon to be eighth grader who has been moved across the country by her Mom, a newly hired head librarian. She must endure the last few days of her summer vacation stuck in the library. Reading is not her thing because she has dyslexia. While helping her Mom search for a lost child she meets Tyrus a book nerd. They happen upon some diaries written by Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll in her Mom’s office and while solving a puzzle are swept into Wonderland. It’s not the Wonderland as Tyrus remembers reading in Alice in Wonderland, but a dark and dangerous place. Tyrus excited about saving Wonderland and Celia hoping it’s just a nightmare must work together if they want to save Wonderland and get back home.

This story of friendship and celebration of differences stays true to the original story yet takes its own twist on the adventure. Certain to be a hit with middle grade readers, The Lost Wonderland Diaries is a fast-paced journey that will bring readers together across generations. Savage not only writes a marvelous spin on the classic tale; he develops two young people with their own difficulties who discover they are more together than alone. And to top it all off he uses our old favorites and adds other Wonderland characters to write a fulfilling story.

You’ll find J Scott Savage across all social media platforms sharing the writing adventure that is called The Lost Wonderland Diaries. Share it with your middle grade readers, soon!

Thanks to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for providing the opportunity to read and review this E-Arc.

I am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland in all its forms, and I love re-tellings so if you are nitpicky then you may have comments. Personally I loved this and it only adds to the Alice in Wonderland, without changing anything. Highly highly recommend this to all ages and I hope to see more about the other diaries!

I loved this book!! I've always been a fan of Alice in Wonderlamd and loved delving into the world. I would highly recommend this book. Its very fun and witty. I'm a big fan of J. Scott Savage and this book didn't disappoint

4/5 stars
This was a cute and whimsical middle-grade fantasy book. I was instantly drawn in by the bio - I love retellings and Alice in Wonderland. The reason I took off a star is because the middle lagged a little. The pacing was ok. The beginning was a little slow, the middle lagged, and the ending flew by. I liked all of the characters. Tyrus and Celia were great protagonists! I am an avid reader, like Tyrus, so I related to him the most. The plot was great! The twist(s) were a little predictable, and I love how the ending turned out. The setting was amazing! I loved how Wonderland was brought to life! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Alice in Wonderland or middle-grade fantasy novels.

What a wonderful twist on the original books. I enjoyed reading this and going on the adventure with Celia and Tyrus. The challenges they faces were great and I would definitely recommend this to the 5th graders. It drones on a bit in some spots but I dont think that they would catch on or mind.

Full review on my blog later.

This was a super cute story about two kids getting lost in Wonderland and having to save it. I have not actually read any of the Alice stories, but I think this was a great prelude into those stories and now I want to read them. I loved Celia and Tyrus. They were so cute and the fact that they were opposites was great. I can't wait for the finished copy to come out to add to my collection.

My 11 year old daughter read this and loved it. Here is her review:
This book was funny and exciting! I had so much fun reading it. If you read and enjoyed The Land of Stories series then you will love this book too. I would recommend this book for sure!

This book is SO good, i loved reading about the little adventures of Celia and Tyrus in Wonderland. I really liked the author's writing and plan on reading more of his books.

Celia has just moved to a new town with her mom, who is a librarian. This means Celia has to spend her summer at the library. Unlike her mother, she hates reading. She'd prefer to spend her day solving logic puzzles and doing math problems. It's mostly because her dyslexia gets in the way.

At the library, she runs into the book nerd, Tyrus. He's a young man who's such a trouble maker that he'll sneak behind the library counter to steal a book from the cart and shelf it. He loves shelfing books that much.

The two of them discover the lost diaries of Lewis Carroll and somehow get sucked into Neverland through them.

This felt like a hybrid of Phantom and the Tollbooth and Alice in Wonderland. It's an incredibly clever and fun book with riddles and puzzles they must get through. It feels like a book that should be in every classroom. Such a fun read! The characters are incredibly fun and creative and the plot is fascinating. The author did such a clever job of creating this world.

The Lost Wonderland Diaries is a whimsical middle grade novel and Alice in Wonderland inspired story. The writing style is reminiscent of the original story. The characters are captivating and the book has a fun thread of humor throughout.

I cannot say enough good things about this book! It was absolutely fabulous. I have nothing bad to say. I think adults and children alike can enjoy and appreciate this book! I LOVE that J. Scott Savage included information about Dodgson/Carroll and that this book was not just a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It is SO MUCH more than a retelling. It’s a book that tells kids (and adults) who have never fit in that it’s ok to be different. It’s educational. It’s funny. It’s suspenseful and exciting. It’s just great all around. I am eagerly looking forward to the next book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Shadow Mountain Publishing and J. Scott Savage for the ARC of The Lost Wonderland Diaries in exchange for my honest review.

I will be posting a full review closer to the publication date on my blog and Instagram!

I'm always on the hunt for new Wonderland retellings/reimaginings, so I was very excited when I got the approval for The Lost Wonderland Diaries. This book was so much more entertaining than many of the retellings I have read recently. While the plot is one that felt kind of familiar, the characters here were great. I even enjoyed the new characters, such as Slyvan, which doesn't happen often when I reenter the world of Wonderland. I'm kind of a purist when it comes to this story and I tend to prefer sticking to the original characters, so I was pleasantly surprised when Slyvan ended up being one of my favorite characters in the book.

I think my overall favorite part of this book is the puzzles and riddles the children are confronted with throughout their journey. I felt like I was getting some bonus brain exercises while reading this book, which is impressive considering I'm significantly older than the target audience!

Overall, this was a very fun, entertaining story that I think will appeal to boys and girls, adults and children. I really hope a sequel finds its way onto shelves eventually!

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn't wait to read Savage's newest middle-grade book because I LOVED The Mysteries of Cove series. He's an author that always has me rooting for his characters.

Would The Lost Wonderland Diaries live up to both Savage's reputation and the genius of the original? That might seem like a lot to ask of one man.

Here's the skinny - I think Savage is brilliant. Not only does he play with the original scenes we all know, he adds to Wonderland with a twist and new storyline. As soon as I saw the tricky numbers and hungry crocodile, I knew I'd entered Wonderland. Some of my highlights without giving big spoilers include a white rabbit (I want to pet you), a mad tea party (definitely an elbows on the table affair), Cheshire (he can come live with me anytime - I'm sure we'd get along because he knows what it takes to be a good friend), the ball (books with dancing are awesome whether you keep your head or not) , the twisty twist at the end (oh, you clever, clever author - I'll read more to see how you pull off the magic tricks again).

Outside of the fanciful plot, I loved the characters. Both Celia and Tyrus with their different interests and strengths are the perfect avatars to take us on this unique journey to save Wonderland. Don't we all live a line between logic and imagination? These two ideas come into play throughout the story as the characters work through who they are and what Wonderland needs.

I've experienced some characteristics of dyslexia: mixing up words, sentence structure, and a couple of letters. Because of this mild experience, I really enjoyed Celia who is dyslexic and great at math (True confession: I am not great at math). I worked in an elementary school art program at the class level which included children who experience neurodiversity. They have so many strengths not seen in traditional learning environments and often excelled in art. This book is a celebration of our differences. I believe Celia is a character all children can cheer for and love.

Tyrus is equally delightful because of his love of books, acceptance of others, and enthusiasm. The two kids complement one another. He is excited to be in Wonderland and anxious to save it no matter the cost. Celia is hesitant and focused on logic, ready to get home. Books are built on great characters even more than clever ideas. As Celia and Tyrus work their way through Wonderland's problems, they build a friendship of give and take. They value and respect one another. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all learned these same lessons?

Savage handles the heart of the story with a deft hand. He lets the readers draw their own conclusions. I believe children will adore the adventure, and tuck the lessons away in their heart, not even knowing they learned while having fun.

I highly recommend this book, but only if you want a fun adventure.

How will you save Wonderland?