《故事之地》

It's the summer for fictional bookworms who fall into fairy tales.

Now comes "The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell," the debut novel by Chris Colfer, best known for his role as Kurt Hummel in the hit TV series "Glee." Based on an idea he had when he was 10 --- Colfer is now all of 22 -- it stars 12-year-old twins who fall into the pages of their grandmother's treasured fairy-tale collection.

"The Land of Stories" works best as a comic and ironic adventure. But it lacks the intellectual playfulness of "Between the Lines," which yanks readers back and forth between reality and fantasy and explores the relationship between characters and their readers.

Colfer is aiming more for laughs while paying homage to the original fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, not their watered-down movie and TV versions.

His main characters couldn't be more different. Alex is her class's star student, "the definition of bookworm." Her brother, Conner, is the class clown who has trouble in school, "mostly trouble staying awake."

A year earlier, their lovable father, a bookstore owner, died in a car accident. (Parents tend to have high fatality rates in fairy tales.) Their also-lovable mother, a nurse, works overtime to make ends meet.

That world is left behind as the twins give new meaning to the idea of getting lost in a good book. They land in a series of kingdoms where Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White have become queens and married King Charming.

To return home to Mom, Alex and Conner must collect eight fairy-tale collectibles, including Cinderella's slipper and a lock of Rapunzel's hair, while being chased by a pack of wolves.

At 438 pages, the novel could have used tighter editing. The ending comes as no surprise but leaves room for a sequel. As Alex says farewell, she wipes away tears but can't help smiling, "because she knew in her heart it wasn't ready good-bye."