Travel Far, Pay No Fare

by Anne Lindbergh

When twelve-year-old Owen finds that his nine-year-old cousin has a magic bookmark, he joins her when she enters different stories in hopes of finding a way to prevent their parents' upcoming marriage.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction

199 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1992

About the author

Anne Spencer Lindbergh, daughter of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh; sister of Reeve Lindbergh.

Also published under the name Anne Lindbergh Feydy.

New York Times obituary

Reviews

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having a librarian as a mother, I received this book in a pile of other discarded books that she brought home from work one day. I read through it the day I got it, and I loved it. I was in middle school at the time, but even now, just after graduating high school, I still can read it and enjoy it in a way that is different from most books I have reread. This is one of the most frequented books on my shelf and the simplistic nature of the writing in this wildly fantastic story has just become a home that I have grown up to learn from, love, and return to again and again. Even while I can practically quote pages from this book, it doesn't get old whenever I read it. I would recommend this to all ages, especially book lovers, given the subject nature, and I hope that I'm not building it up so much that it disappoints. But this book really has made a difference to me and has become a sort of literary home to return to whenever I need it to be there.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book cause my adopted daughter gave it to me to read & asked if I'd return it when I'm done, so I knew it would be a good book. And it was:) I'd wish all young people to read it, ESP those that thought they didn't like to read!

[Lenore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book completely by accident in middle school when my school librarian forced me to pick a book but refused to let me check out Harry Potter. And it was amazing. It's an easy read, it mentions a lot of popular novels. I quite liked it.

[Jamie Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read. It starts a little heavy-handed with the anti-TV/movies stuff but once things get going it's an excellent adventure

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: 12-year-old Owen moves to Vermont when his mom decides to marry her widowed brother-in-law. Owen’s tasked with watching his 9-year-old cousin Parsley, but she keeps disappearing for long periods of time.

Review: I loved the premise of this book—that you can travel into your favorite books. (Tangent: Where would you go if you could? Hogwarts for me, hands down.)

But as fun as the premise was, the writing wasn't a good fit for me. Issues ranged from too much exclamation to a play-by-play of every thought and feeling the main character had. Here’s an example from a good ways into the book:

I’ve seen movies that had me close to tears, but even the saddest of them was nothing compared to this. Jody was hurting. I could tell! And I hurt with him: a tight, heavy kind of hurt that swelled inside my chest and behind my jaw. What did it mean? Was it because Flag was still there and condemned to die? Should I knock on the door and ask?

I did like that the family conflict was front and center in the story, along with the parents. It heightened the tension and made it more realistic.

[Monica Fastenau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the full review here: http://newberyandbeyond.com/childrens...

This book is so cute! Owen and Parsley, thrown together by their parents’ upcoming marriage, discover that Parsley’s bookmark allows her to travel into the books she reads. The two team up in order to prevent their parents’ marriage, but they also enjoy a lot of adventures along the way.

This is a bookworm’s dream! Imagine exploring Alice in Wonderland, Little Women, Ramona and Beezus, and other classic children’s lit first hand! And the kids are pretty great characters, too. I just wish there had been more books that the kids got to explore.

[Cara M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book! The first page was brilliant, the characters very vivid. It reminds me of Knight's Castle, and the other Edgar Eager books which involve sliding in and out of stories. It's a kind of magic you can believe in. :)

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

OHMYGOSH THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! It was so so so awesome and everyone should read it!

[Jackie]

this book was very interesting and you never know what will happen next!!!!!

[Greta Oehlert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great kids' book. Read this with my son several years ago (I guess he was about 10) and we both ended up loving it. Best thing we've read together since the Phantom Tollbooth.

[Nicole Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for a person who loves books. It made me want to read books more often.

[Kassydi Garvin]

It was a great book it took me a long time to finish but it's a great book I really recommend it.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the pleasure of having this read as a read aloud in my fifth grade classroom this year. The book is about a young boy with a mother who is an author who goes to live with his squirrely cousin in the country. What he discovers is that his crazy cousin has the ability to go inside books on a whim and bring back whatever she'd like from the various stories she visits. The characters are so engagingly quirky that you can't help but fall in love with them and can't wait to see what they will do or say next!

In my classroom, I would make a list as we read through the novel of all the books that are mentioned in the novel for my students to look back on and think about reading next in their independent reading. They would be going into some of those classics with some background knowledge from this novel. I think the novel would also be a great launching pad for creative writing as I could ask my students to write about what book they would "jump into" if they had the magical bookmark that could take them there.

[Chris Meichtry · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is unfortunate that this was very clearly written by someone who has never been a preteen boy, making the narration feel completely out of place at times, it was a decent story. A bit cliché with the whole our-parents-are-getting-married-and-we-have-to-stop-it plot and there were a couple of things about the bookmark that didn't make sense and were never explained, but it was a fun little adventure. I do wish book-traveling had been fleshed out a bit more, however. It seemed like the characters spent more time arguing about the stories than actually visiting them.

[Alicia Kirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it in 4th grade, still love it now!

[Rokia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so important to my childhood because, similar to my love for the Phantom Tollbooth, it taught me to continue building on my imagination. I’ve re-read this book so many times and each time, it’s been an adventure and full of fond memories.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Spencer Lindbergh was a master at creating richly fleshed-out characters with just the right amount of dramatic flare and her imagination was something to behold.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books are always my escape but this is a little too extreme

[Cynnamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book as a kid now I read it to my students to get them excited about reading

[Gino Alfonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite books as a kid growing up, would love to make the film!!