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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

This book swallowed my child. Really. She all-but-disappeared once she got her hands on this story.

It is kind of appropriate since the premise of this book is that Meggie’s father, Mo, is such a magical storyteller that his voice can read characters out of the story and into the present. He can also read people into a story.

Of course, things aren’t simple as it sounds. He doesn’t have control over this extraordinary ability. He accidentally read Meggie’s mother into the intriguing world of Inkheart, a place with fairies, trolls, giants, and castles. He also read characters out of that world into his: like Dustfinger, a good-hearted man who was a fire-eater in his own world, a place he longs to return to. He also read out characters like Capricorn and Basta, wicked men with no inclination to go back to their own world. They sense the potential for wreaking more havoc in ours.

This was one of our favorite read-alouds. I know most book-lovers have already discovered this one, but in case you haven’t yet, you’ll be glad.

We also enjoyed Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord. I was more reserved about her novel The Dragon Rider because friendly dragons and fractured fairy tales seem more harmful to me after reading Michael O'Brien's Landscape with Dragons (I recommend this resource to all book-loving parents.)

Safety Rating: 3 Vatican Flags; High-Readability

5 comments:

Deanna April 30, 2009 at 11:46 AM  

Thanks for this review. My daughter has had this series on our bookshelf for years and we've never read it. Sounds like it's time to get started.

ryalls May 10, 2009 at 9:13 PM  

I was happy to see that you mentioned her other books, particularly "The Thief Lord" since I have that on the bookshelf. The jacket cover mentions that Funke is the third most popular children's book writer in Germany after Rowling and Stine. I hoped it was worthy. :)

Laura The Crazy Mama May 21, 2009 at 7:09 AM  

I do believe Cornelia Funke is a genius! My son keeps begging me for the third book but I want to wait for paperback. I won't see him for a few days afterward, I'm sure.

Anonymous,  September 28, 2009 at 3:00 PM  

What about Inkspell and Inkdeath? Will you PLEASE do reviews for those?

Tween Lit Crit September 30, 2009 at 7:22 PM  

We did read these, and although I don't have the time for a full review, I'll just let you know that we thought the magic continued in Inkspell but faded a bit. We didn't think the 3rd, Inkdeath, was as intriguing. (this is often the case with sequels, and this followed the trend). But none were objectionable and it was a story worth following once you're hooked!

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