An interesting story about two children and their race to save some rare spiders, teaching us that every creature has a place on this planet.
Image credit: Simon & Schuster
Ben Miller, well-known English actor and comedian, known for his comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, and as the lead role of DI Richard Poole in Death in Paradise, is also the author of a number of books, specifically for middle years. In The Night We Got Stuck in a Story, we see the return of siblings Lana and Harrison from The Day I Fell into a Fairy Tale.
In Miller’s latest story, Lana and Harrison are staying at their grandparents’ house. Not far from the house, in a marsh, there is a huge hollow tree. The hollow inside the trunk makes for excellent climbing; in fact you could climb all the way to the top and stick your head out. When they go to visit the tree, the children discover yellow tape around it with a sign telling them the tree is going to be cut down! Ignoring the danger signs, they decide to have one more climb. While there, they overhear the mayor, a developer, a spider expert, and the local science teacher discussing the importance of some very rare spiders which live in the marsh. The developer intends to destroy the tree and surrounding marsh to put in a new housing development.
Once the children are discovered, Lana is asked what she thinks, and a brand-new playground sounds better than a home for spiders, so she agrees to the developer’s proposal as long as the tree remains. That night, she begins to have second thoughts and is woken up by a golden thread attached to her finger pulling her in the direction of the tree. Lana wakes Harrison and they follow the thread to discover there are already diggers at the site and work has begun to cut down the tree. The golden thread pulls them up the hollow and they find themselves in a whole new world where many adventures await. And so begins the children’s journey to save the tree and its occupants.
The premise of The Night We Got Stuck in a Story is interesting and the idea of two children fighting a large corporation to save some spiders was a great idea, but unfortunately the execution feels disjointed in places and there is quite an abrupt ending. Some parts of the story needed to be further explained. When reading stories about new worlds, we of course need to suspend belief. But it seems like these two children, who don’t even live in the area, have way too much say over decisions being made, and these decisions are automatically accepted. Even in the new world the children find themselves in, Lana continues to have the power to change things with minimal effort, resulting in big outcomes.
An inviting bright blue cover will draw children into picking up the book, and the story has a good message which teaches us that every creature on this planet has a place, even those we cannot see. There is a sense of urgency and excitement as Lana races to save the spiders, and she finds help along the way in unexpected places.
At the end of the story, Miller gives the reader information about different kinds of spiders and how he used their peculiar traits to come up with the spiders in the book.
Reviewed by Sue Mauger
This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not necessarily of Glam Adelaide.
Distributed by: Simon & Schuster Australia
Released: October 2022
RRP: $16.99
