Confession: I have always wanted to have a book nook, at least ever since I saw one online someplace a few years ago and thought OH my god that’s the most amazing idea ever!
Well, my DH and Kiddos got me one for my birthday in February (any Aquariuses out there?) and it is everything I wanted. I mean come on! It’s an Alice in Wonderland one!! 🐇🫖
Check it out! 📖
Yes, I put this whole thing together. And let me tell you there were way more pieces than I realized. Pieces on top of pieces even. But I LOVE it!
For now it’s sitting on one of our many bookshelves next to my green house, which I got for Christmas from my DH when he was still my boyfriend. ❤️
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland perhaps is the best and most well known example of a Portal Fantasy. Alice falls down the rabbit hole because of her curiosity and adventure ensues. Growing up reading about her time spent in Wonderland, this future author wished and dreamed of following Alice into another world. One of magic, of talking caterpillars, puzzles and nonsense. Alice figures out how to save herself from the doom of the Queen of Hearts. She preservers to become a queen herself in Through the Looking Glass.
So it really tracks that the story I ended up telling was one that also involves magical travel to another land, strange occurrences, water that nonsensically flows in two directions at once, and fields that reflect the stars at night. And a woman who saves herself (or does she?) from a villain dressed in red, black, and white (hmm, that color scheme sounds familiar).
When I look at this new Book Nook, it reminds me of my favorite childhood book and the work I had to put into assembling it. And it also reflects the story I wrote years later—my own adventure not through a looking glass, but through a painting. 🖼️
Gina M. Engman 
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