50 Fun Facts About The Land of Stories

Chris Colfer wrote The Land of Stories while playing Kurt Hummel on which hit TV musical series?

Glee made Chris Colfer a star and won him a Golden Globe in 2011, the same year he signed the deal to write his first two children's novels.

In The Land of Stories, which storybook figure, able to open portals between worlds, is the Bailey twins' grandmother?

The Fairy Godmother is the twins' grandmother, which makes Alex and Conner part fairy. She leads the Fairy Council and sends them home at the end of the first book.

Which fairy-tale character is a wanted fugitive in The Land of Stories, secretly in love with Jack of beanstalk fame?

Goldilocks is a tough, fearless outlaw who has been running from the law since three bears pressed charges against her. Jack later gives up his quiet life to go on the run with her.

Which storybook heroine, a self-absorbed young queen in The Land of Stories, has a flying ship built from her baskets?

Red Riding Hood rules a kingdom named after her. In The Enchantress Returns she has her villagers build the airship so the twins can hunt for the pieces of a magic wand.

In The Land of Stories, which villain wants the Wishing Spell to free the man she loves from a magical prison?

The Evil Queen is recast as Evly, a heartbroken girl whose beloved Mira was imprisoned in the glass. Her wish works, but Mira dies in her arms moments after he is freed.

Ezmia, the villain of The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns, once cursed which fairy-tale princess?

Sleeping Beauty was her victim, and the returning Enchantress now kidnaps Charlotte Bailey by mistake, believing she has seized her daughter Alex.

In The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide, the cursed Alex Bailey brings which landmark's stone lions to life?

The New York Public Library is where Alex appears under a witch's curse and wakes the famous lion statues. The fight later spreads to Central Park and Times Square.

Which nursery-rhyme figure sits on the Fairy Council in The Land of Stories and is the twins' grandmother's best friend?

Mother Goose crosses between worlds on a giant gander named Lester. In The Enchantress Returns she is sent to babysit the twins and lets slip who has taken their mother.

In the third Land of Stories novel, which country does Conner Bailey visit on a school trip to hear lost tales?

Germany is where three long-lost Brothers Grimm stories are unveiled in Berlin. One of them turns out to be a coded warning about an army marching on the fairy-tale world.

Which hero of British legend falls for Alex Bailey when a trap strands her in his story in The Land of Stories?

King Arthur is still a young man learning from Merlin when Alex lands in his world. He begs to leave with her, and later pulls the sword from the stone early so he can follow.

How did Alex and Conner Bailey's father die in the months before The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell begins?

A car accident killed John Bailey shortly before the twins turned eleven. The stories he used to tell them turn out to be his own memories of the fairy-tale world.

In The Land of Stories, what job has Charlotte Bailey, the twins' mother, working double shifts to support the family?

Nurse Charlotte Bailey works at a children's hospital, and it is there that she meets Dr. Bob, the surgeon she marries at the end of the second book.

Which character frees the captured twins in The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell after Conner agrees to kiss her?

Trollbella is the troll king's daughter, and her crush on Conner never fades. By the second book she is queen and still trying to make him her king.

In The Land of Stories, a witch turns Prince Charlie Charming into the frog man Froggy as punishment for which flaw?

His vanity cost him his human face, and at first he hides away alone out of shame. He later wins an election to become king of the Center Kingdom.

Fleeing the Troll and Goblin Territory in The Land of Stories, the twins grab which royal object for the Wishing Spell?

A crown shared by the troll and goblin kings turns out to be on the spell's list, though the twins had not been looking for it. Conner grabs it as the territory falls apart.

In The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell, what does the villain take from Alex Bailey to replace a smashed ingredient?

A single tear from Alex stands in for the broken vial of fairy tears, and the spell still works. That is the first proof that the twins have fairy blood.

In The Land of Stories, which heroine, now only a spirit, tells the twins where the last Wishing Spell item lies?

The Little Mermaid explains that the item is the dagger she was once given to kill her prince. It now lies in the Thornbush Pit, and she asks the twins to destroy it afterwards.

What name do the fairy-tale characters of The Land of Stories use for the ordinary world where the Bailey twins grew up?

The Otherworld is their word for our world. The twins' father was born in the fairy-tale world and used the Wishing Spell to cross over and stay with the woman he loved.

In which dangerous region of The Land of Stories do Alex and Conner Bailey land after falling through their book?

The Dwarf Forests are home to witches and a pack of wolves. Froggy finds the twins there, takes them to his house and hands them the journal that starts their quest.

In The Land of Stories, which relative of the Bailey twins is the Masked Man who recruits an army of literary villains?

Their uncle Lloyd is the man behind the mask, the youngest son of the twins' grandmother. When Alex first sees his face she is convinced he is their father, somehow back from the dead.

Which fairy-tale villain dies shielding Alex Bailey from a curse in The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns?

Rumpelstiltskin steps in front of the curse out of guilt for serving the Enchantress. The book also makes him the estranged eighth brother of Snow White's seven companions.

Which prized possession of Ezmia, villain of The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns, completes the twins' wand?

Her pride is the final piece, and the wand completes itself once Alex takes it. In the end Alex disarms Ezmia with an apology, which drains away her anger and her power.

Which prized possession of the giant do the twins climb a new beanstalk to fetch in The Land of Stories?

A magic harp named Harper is what the giant treasured most. She can talk, and she is not pleased to learn she is about to become part of a wand.

Which fairy-tale villain moves to the Bailey twins' world in The Land of Stories and runs a diner, the Storybook Grill?

Cinderella's stepmother, Lady Iris, accepts Conner's offer of a fresh start at the end of the second book. She runs the diner with her daughters Petunia and Rosemary.

Which historical army, stuck in a portal for two centuries, invades the fairy-tale world in The Land of Stories?

The Grande Armée of Napoleon's France kidnaps the Brothers Grimm in 1811 to learn the way in. Its soldiers march into a portal and only come out two hundred years later.

Which creature does the Masked Man hatch to attack the Fairy Palace in The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning?

A dragon hatches from an egg the Snow Queen trades away, and it is turned on the invading general himself. The twins' grandmother spends the last of her magic to destroy it.

In The Land of Stories, which nursery-rhyme character secretly talks to her lover, the Masked Man, through a mirror?

Little Bo Peep wins an election for a throne while he sits in prison, yet she was the one who turned him in. She dies of a broken heart when he rejects her.

In The Land of Stories, which farm boy wins Alex Bailey's heart but is blackmailed into betraying the royal families?

Rook gives up the royals' hiding place to save his father and the other captured villagers. He makes amends in the final book, dying to shield Alex from a sniper's bullet.

What kind of creature is Cornelius, the plump companion who helps Alex Bailey with fairy duties in The Land of Stories?

A unicorn with a broken horn, Cornelius was shut out by the others of his kind. Alex chose him for being different, and his magic leads her to people who need help.

In The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning, three unpublished Brothers Grimm tales are unearthed from what?

A time capsule gives up three stories, and Conner already knows two of them because his father used to tell them. The third is a hidden warning.

Which character joins the twins' chase in The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms after they land right on top of him?

The Tin Woodman agrees to help, hoping a heart is waiting for him at the end. He stays on for the rest of the chase through Neverland and Wonderland.

Which legendary outlaw mistakes Conner Bailey for a sorcerer in The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms?

Robin Hood first ties Conner up as a spy, then decides he is a sorcerer after he scares the Sheriff of Nottingham's men away. Conner even coaches him on wooing Maid Marian.

In The Land of Stories, the Masked Man steals a potion that turns which everyday objects into doorways to other worlds?

Books touched by the Portal Potion open into their own stories. He uses it to hop through classic novels, signing up their villains for his army.

Which real writer opens The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms chatting with his old friend, the twins' grandmother?

Hans Christian Andersen is out walking for ideas in 1845 when she joins him. Their talk inspires her instead, and she goes home to invent a new potion.

Which witch halts Froggy's wedding in The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms and later traps him inside a mirror?

Morina is the former love who first turned him into a frog, and she threatens his bride unless he leaves with her. In the final book her own spell is bounced back at her off a mirror.

Which real landmark hides the portal Conner Bailey opens in The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning?

Neuschwanstein Castle is where Conner and a classmate trick a local boy, Emmerich, into sneaking them inside. All three are pulled through the portal when it opens.

Which Conner Bailey short story, starring Captain Auburn Sally, do the twins enter first in The Land of Stories?

Starboardia is a pirate adventure whose heroine and her admiral are modelled on two of Conner's outlaw friends. Her crew at first refuse to believe a boy wrote their world.

Which Land of Stories book sends the twins off to recruit pirates, cyborgs and superheroes for an army of their own?

An Author's Odyssey is the fifth book, and the twins collect the stories from Conner's old teacher. Each cast turns out to be based on people he knows.

In The Land of Stories, the Masked Man meets his end when which creatures drag him underground in a cemetery story?

Zombies finish him off in a story written by Conner's classmate, slipped into his binder by mistake. Their leader is a zombie version of the woman who once loved him.

Which figure from Greek myth befriends Froggy while he is trapped in a mirror in The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide?

Medusa had been used as a weapon against her will. Froggy talks her into returning stolen youth to kidnapped children, and that good deed is what frees him from the mirror.

Which Chris Colfer novel begins a prequel series to The Land of Stories, starring a girl named Brystal Evergreen?

A Tale of Magic follows Brystal as she discovers she can do magic in a kingdom where it is illegal. Published in 2019, it went straight to number one on the bestseller lists.

Which artist drew the covers and chapter illustrations for all six of Chris Colfer's Land of Stories novels?

Brandon Dorman illustrated the whole series, and returned for a tenth-anniversary edition of the first book with twenty new full-colour pictures.

The second Land of Stories book is dedicated to which relative of Chris Colfer, diagnosed with epilepsy as a child?

His sister Hannah is praised in the dedication as the bravest person he knows. Her illness took up much of their parents' attention, and he escaped into writing fairy tales.

At what stage of life did Chris Colfer first attempt the fairy-tale novel that later became The Land of Stories?

In elementary school he showed his early pages to a relative he calls his first editor. Her advice was not to worry about failing as a writer until he had at least finished elementary school.

Which Chris Colfer picture book began as a tale told within The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell?

The Curvy Tree was the only tree the loggers left standing, because it was different. In the picture book it tells that story to a girl who has run away after being teased.

Which classmate joins Conner Bailey's dash across Europe in The Land of Stories and eventually becomes his wife?

Bree is a horror writer who recognises the fairy tales Conner has been passing off as his own. The final book reveals that they marry and have children and grandchildren.

In The Land of Stories, what nickname is given to the four schoolgirls obsessed with exposing the Bailey twins' secret?

The Book Huggers are Mindy, Cindy, Lindy and Wendy, who spend years trying to prove the twins are hiding something. In the last book they are the ones who come to the rescue.

Which instrument does Conner Bailey fetch from a Monte Carlo casino vault to open a portal in The Land of Stories?

A panpipe unlocks the doorway, but only when played by someone with magic in their blood. A talking lion statue in London tells Conner where it is kept.

In The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide, which book series does the elderly Conner Bailey admit is really autobiography?

Fairytaletopia is the name Conner gave his retelling of the twins' adventures. His readers laugh when he calls it autobiography, but he is telling the truth.

Which witch heals the wounded Bailey twins in her cottage after an attack in The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning?

Hagetta prefers to be called a healer and refused to learn the dark arts from Hagatha, her elder sister. Hagatha was the witch who once told the twins' father about the Wishing Spell.