Inkheart

Inkheart

Author: Cornelia Funke

Publisher: Frome, Somerset [England] : Chicken House ; New York : Scholastic, 2003.

Plot Description:

            Meggie has always loved to read.  Ever since she was born her father Mo has always encouraged her to read every and anything.  Books have always been her friends, her comfort as they moved from place to place.  But then a strange man named Dustfinger comes to their house in the dead of night, warning her father that Capricorn knows where he is and is coming for him.  Little did Meggie know that her father always encouraged her to read because he couldn’t read to her.  Because his voice had the power to bring book characters to life.  What the cost was in return for this power is a secret he has always kept from Meggie.  But secrets rarely stay kept forever.

Review:

            Inkheart combines a fantasy world with reality in a fun and adventure filled novel.  The book is fast paced, with a darker element evident throughout.  In particular, I thought that the part where Fenoglio confronts the evil character he created and thinks about the reasons he made him so evil in the book to be very interesting.  I thought that the characters were well written and, except for the evil ones, quite likeable.  It is not overly focused on the fantasy aspect of the novel, though obviously this theme is echoed throughout simply because the plot itself is pure fantasy.  A great read overall.

Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Reading Level: 6^th Grade

Similar Titles: Percy Jackson

Reader’s Advisory:

Personal Thoughts: overall a good read, but didn’t necessarily make me want to read the next 2 in the trilogy

Subjects/Themes: Fantasy, Reading, Books, Evil, Adventure

Series Information; Book 1 in the Inkworld Trilogy

Character Names:

            Meggie- 12 year old girl who discovers she has inherited her fathers power       

            Mo- also known as Silvertongue, can read characters out of books

            Dustfinger- one of the first characters Mo read out, controls fire

            Capricorn- the evil villain of the tale who came out of Inkspell

            Elinor- Meggie’s great aunt who helps her try and rescue her father

Annotation: What would you do if you could make your favorite book characters come to life?