Search This Blog

2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

2024 Challenge Sign-Up Post

January Reviews Link-Up

February Reviews Link-Up

March Reviews Link-Up

April Reviews Link-Up

May Reviews Link-Up

June Reviews Link-Up

July Reviews Link-Up

August Reviews Link-Up

September Reviews Link-Up

October Reviews Link-Up

November Reviews Link-Up

December Reviews Link-Up

My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Thursday, January 10, 2008

Inkheart Warns: Reading Aloud Can Be Hazardous to Your Health




Have you ever loved a storybook character so much that you wanted to pluck him out of the pages of his book and set him smack dab in the middle of your life? Or admired a heroine so completely that you wanted to jump right into her story and watch her in action? If you have - and who hasn't? - you might want to have a little chat with 12-year-old Meggie, star of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart. You see, Meggie knows all about storybook characters coming to life ...


Let me explain. Meggie's father, whom she calls Mo, is also known as Silvertongue. Why the strange name? Because when Mo reads aloud, he can pull people out of their stories. Of course, sometimes when someone comes out, someone or something may get pulled in. For this reason, Mo has kept his secret from his daughter, Meggie, refusing to ever read aloud to her. While this seems a little strange, Meggie never suspects a thing until one dark night when she spies a stranger outside her window. Her terror turns to suspicion when her father invites the stranger inside, greeting him as an old friend. When the two hole up in Mo's workroom, Meggie eavesdrops on their strange conversation, a conversation that revolves around a mysterious book and an evil villain who will stop at nothing to capture Mo and his magical voice.


Suddenly, Meggie finds herself in a situation more terrifying than any she has ever read about in her beloved books. On the run with her father, she demands the truth he has kept hidden from her. Out spills the story of a magical world peopled with fairies, trolls, and a vicious monster named Capricorn. This fairy tale world lives inside a book called Inkheart. The trouble is, some of the story's characters - including Capricorn - have come out of the book and into the modern world. Anxious to return, the villain and his henchman are hunting for Mo, the only one who can read them back into their story.


Although Capricorn and his "Black Jackets" have been terrifying real people for years, the police can't help. So, it is up to Meggie and a ragtag group of people - fictional and non - to take on the evil men, save Mo, and restore Inkheart's people to their proper place between the covers of a book. But their mission will not be simple or easy. As Meggie soon finds out, fictional characters can create just as much trouble outside their books as they can inside.


This novel enchanted me from the first pages. I loved the idea of books "whispering" to people and "luring" them into stories, as though the books themselves were live, animate objects. After this alluring beginning, I was hooked. The story is somewhat predictable, but contained enough twists and turns to keep me eagerly reading. I cared about the characters as well, from brave Meggie to her kind father to lively Fenoglio to brave Farid. You can't help but like them in all of their flawed complexity. Overall, Inkheart is a charming, magical read, just beware of reading it aloud. You never know what could happen.


Grade:A


Note:I struggled with whether or not to label this book a "Clean Read." It doesn't have any explicit sex or a lot of curse words, but there are hints about Capricorn's doings with women and a handful of hells and damns. So, I'm labeling it clean, with a little reservation.

9 comments:

  1. This sounds really good. I don't read a lot of YA books or fantasy books, but I think I would really like this one. Thanks for the really great review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great review...I read this one last year and enjoyed it much more than I expected I would. YA and Fantasy are not my thing usually, but this one made me curious about others of those types that I might be missing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie. I wasn't enamored by the book the way most readers were, I'm afraid, but I did like it overall.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay! I have this one on hold at my library, so I can't wait to get my hot little hands on it. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lisa & Carl - I'm finding myself loving the YA fantasy books more and more. I was never into these kind of books as a kid, but now I just can't stay away!

    L.F. - I can't wait to see the movie either. When is it coming out, do you know?

    Eva - I hope you like it. I grabbed both Inkheart and Inkspell from the library, so I need to read Inkspell before it's overdue. I'll let you know what I think!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't care for Fantasy books at all, BUT this one sounds intriguing. :)

    Don't forget to come back and link it to the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the reminder, Joy. I forgot all about linking it to the challenge. Duh.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just read this one too and thought it was really, really good. There is such a lot of good Young adult fantasy around at the moment. The movie of Inkheart is out in March I believe.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This just arrived in my Amazon delivery, your review has made me even more eager to read it.

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.

P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
End of Story by A.J. Finn

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



Followin' with Bloglovin'

Follow

Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive



2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Susan has read 0 books toward her goal of 200 books.
hide

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction