The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1)

by Chris Colfer

“By publicly persecuting me, they’re filling an insecure void caused by social and domestic neglect.”

Her story shows that even in the worst of situations—even when it seems no one in the world appreciates you—as long as you have hope, everything can get better.…”

“Sometimes we forget about our own advantages because we focus on what we don’t have. Just because you have to work a little harder at something that seems easier to others doesn’t mean you’re without your own talents.”

“I’ve never met a person I didn’t learn something from!” Grandma said. “Even the most monotonous people will surprise you. Remember that.”

Finally, after a few hours of aroma-teasing torture, they ate. Alex and Conner had become so accustomed to frozen dinners and takeout, they had forgotten how good food could taste.

“I’ve learned that the more people embrace their disadvantages, the less disadvantaged they become!

“Glass that housed a lonely soul up ’til midnight’s final toll. A saber from the deepest sea, meant for a groom’s mortality. The bark of a basket held in fright while running from a bark with bite. A stony crown that’s made to share, found deep within a savage lair. A needle that pierced the lovely skin of a princess with beauty found within. A wavy lock of golden rope that once was freedom’s only hope. Glittering jewels whose value increased after preserving the false deceased. Teardrops of a maiden fairy feeling neither magical nor merry.

“Do you ever find it overwhelming?” Alex asked Smithers. “Does it ever get frightening living here and knowing that at any moment a fairy could fly by and grant you a wish, or an ogre could run up and eat you?” Smithers looked at her curiously. “Does such a place exist where people can’t unexpectedly be helped or hurt?” Alex couldn’t think of any. Maybe this world and the world she was from weren’t so different after all.

always laugh at the term Cinderella story, because, if you ask me, it doesn’t matter what life you’re living, life never has a solution. No matter how hard the struggles are that you leave behind, new struggles always take their place.

“You’re from there, aren’t you?” she asked. “And you’re not trying to find a way home.”

“The world will always choose convenience over reality,” the Evil Queen said. “It’s easier to hate, blame, and fear than it is to understand. No one wants the truth; they want entertainment.”

“I think what I’ve learned from all of this is that villains are mostly just people villainized by circumstance,” Alex said. Snow White nodded, sincerely looking down at the heart. “I agree,” Snow White said. “That’s the tragic lesson we can learn from the Evil Queen.”

“It doesn’t matter how greatly you’ve been hurt or how much you’re hurting, it’s what you do with the pain that counts,”