Title: Inkheart
Author: Cornelia Funke
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: 10+
TV Guide Snippet: Some storytellers bring characters to life within the bounds of their world, but what if a storyteller could bring the characters into our world?
Plot Summary: Maggie lives surrounded by books, old books, new books, and well loved books. Her father Mortimer, who she calls Mo, is a bookbinder and an accomplished one at that. One night she notices a man staring outside their house. Instead of shooing him away, her father invites him in. On the advice of this man named Dustfinger, they head south to great aunt Elinor's estate, a great collector of books.
While there, the whole lot are abducted to Capricorn's village where Maggie learns the reason that Mo has never read to her aloud. Mo can read characters, creatures, and objects out of books. But, it is an equal exchange. That is the reason her mother disappeared. An unequal exchange for the villainous Capricorn, the coward Dustfinger, and a few other unpleasant characters. Can they be read back into the book to get Maggie's mother back out?
Anything Critical: The writing of this book uses some beautiful language. Cornelia Funke really puts detail into the smallest things to create a sense of wonder about them. For her, a house is not always just the house as it is, but a house of what it was and what it could be. Teachers can appreciate her style of storytelling in use of the into, through, and beyond steps of literacy.
Because of the dynamic range of emotions the characters go through, readers can experience the feelings of loss, guilt, cowardice, surprise, relief, etc. from a variety of the characters. Going through these ranges of motion from a book makes one more empathetic to others who have been through these emotions.
Curriculum Ties: English, European history
Challenge Issues: Magic, Mild Violence
Program Ideas: Storyteller hour - hire a storyteller or a dramatic group to really bring a story to life.
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