Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

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Synopsis from the School Library Journal:  Grade 4-8-An inventive plot and memorable characters will draw readers into Cornelia Funke's fantasy (Scholastic, 2003). Twelve-year-old Meggie and Mo, her book binder father, are fleeing their old enemy, Capricorn, when they arrive at Great Aunt Eleanor's book-lined villa in Italy. Though the three of them are brave and wily by turns, their cruelly-powerful nemesis manages to find them and their copy of the book, Inkheart. That's when Meggie learns about her father's extraordinary ability to read book characters into life, and the events that caused her mother's disappearance when Capricorn emerged from the title book. Meggie, Mo, Eleanor, and a host of friends and enemies go through plot twists that involve captures, escapes and, finally, an end to Capricorn's reign of terror. At the heart of it all, is the power of story and family love. Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

What did I think?

(I would be remiss if I didn't preface this review by acknowledging the fact that this book has been translated from German.  I recognize than some of my points of displeasure may disappear if I could read it in it's intended language.  But alas, I don't speak German.)

I've been reading this book with my eleven year old as a bedtime story and ironically, I haven't found it a good read aloud.  (It's ironic because the plot revolves around reading aloud.)  When I started reading ahead by myself though, the story started moving faster and engaged me more.  A rather complex set of actions with out a lot of exposition or character development made this a difficult book for me to really get in to, especially only reading 15 or so minutes at a time with my daughter.  It is a very good story though, with an interesting premise (my daughter and I have had a good time theorizing which characters we'd try to read out of a book if we could and wondering if they'd be as appealing in real life - would we still like know-it-all Hermione if we had to hang out with her?) but it felt like the ending was rushed and tied up in a neat bow when that' not really how such a story would end.  I know there are two more long books in the series so this is not really the end, but I still would like this book to have it's own more substantial ending.  After all, these characters have just passed through hell.  They deserve more than a swift and glossy return to happiness.  All in all though, I did enjoy the book and think I'll encourage my daughter to either read ahead without me or set aside extra reading time because reading in longer stretches really did make a difference for me.  

Favorite Thing:  The premise.  It's lots of fun to consider being able to "read out" bits of books.

Least Favorite Thing:  There's very little character development.  They all seem to be malleable depending on the situation and a couple of the characters are pretty interchangeable.

Distracted by Flora and Ulysses

Holy unanticipated occurrences!  Last week I was distracted from a good book (Peter and the Starcatchers) by a better book.  Okay, it wasn't unanticipated because it happens to me quite often, but that is Flora Buckman's favorite line from her favorite comic, which guides her when she discovers a squirrel with super powers.  Yes, you read that right.  A squirrel with super powers.  Bet you didn't anticipate that, did you!

In Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures there are many unanticipated occurrences and it all begins with a vacuum cleaner, a squirrel and a natural born cynic named Flora.  There is a wacky cast of characters including a self absorbed romance writer, an air head neighbor, an emotionally traumatized great-nephew next door and a sad, sad father.  They all tip toe right up to the line of being too wacky but only cross the line a little and in such silly ways I loved them for it.  In fact, I won't even try to give you a plot synopsis because honestly, it's a simple and predictable plot but a joy to read and discover on your own.

Kate DiCamillo books are always wonderful read alouds, but this one is just BEGGING for a dramatic reading.  I gave it to my brilliant eight year old for Christmas and we've had a terrific time either reading alone or together.  This is a great book for sitting close on the sofa so you can both see the pictures but leave plenty of room for dramatic gestures which you'll probably find necessary as you read.    The illuminations (illustrations) are basic yet expressive and they really enhance the humor.  Honestly, it's hard to capture the funny wonderfulness of Flora and Ulysses in a review.  You have to read it for yourself.  :)

Click here to learn more about Flora and Ulysses.