Panjandrum by J.J. Telly

Title: Panjandrum

Author: J.J. Telly
Age Group: Tweens
# of Pages: 288

My Rating: 5/5

Gelsem's world is made up of Levels. She lives a very content life on Level Gee where she does not care to explore the mystery and lifestyle of the other Levels. But everything changes when she wakes up one day to find that she is not in her comfy bed, but in a wooden box! She realizes that she is kidnapped and is now a few Levels below her home Level! Now on Level Pee, she has to figure out why she is there and more importantly, how will she get out?

I admit, in the very beginning I was in a reading slump so I did not absorb as much as I should. When I brought it in to finish reading at work, I was completely hooked! I absolutely love this fantasy world Telly created around these Levels. So there is a Level from A to Z, but of course spelled out like Cee or Emm. Each Level is known for the things that starts with the letter of the Level. For example, my name is Diana and I'm from Level Dee where it is famous for its dancers, drummers and daredevils (I made this up! But you get the gist of it). Each Level has monsters and characters of its own with their very unique attributes. I absolutely love it when a story has a pack load of the author's monsters because it is new and different. You just do not know what to expect!

Gelsem is one of the few viewpoints you get to read as new characters are introduced. They all eventually collide together through different circumstances. What makes these characters unique is that you have a couple that you don't know if you want to support or have bad things happen to them. They get stuck in complex situations and then it would be shades of grey in terms of their actions for the reader.

What I love that Panjandrum had to offer was the freedom from what I usually read. The characters are young but with ages scattering from thirteen to eighteen. I am just genuinely glad that there is none of that young romance situation and some teen cliches I am used to seeing. It is just an honestly fun book to read. When I finished, I was thinking that every single middle school should have this book on their shelves for their students to read. Yes, every single middle school. It has the adventures, the monsters, the twists and turns, and the fun aspect. Highly recommended.

Review copy provided by J.J. Telly.