Amelia's Book Reviews: Inkheart

If you’ve ever read a good book; a fairy tale, an adventure, a romance; you know the feeling of wanting to be in the story. You long to meet those lovable characters, even the villain (if only so you could give them a good whap over the head).

German author Cornelia Funke paints pictures in your head with Inkheart, and you can almost see the characters beside you. That is the reality for twelve-year-old Meggie and her father, Mo. It all begins one night when Meggie sees a strange man standing in their yard. The events following change Meggie’s life, and her view of the stories she so loves.

The first time I read this book, I really didn’t read it--I listened to it on CD, read aloud by Lynn Redgrave; ironically. The mysterious man, with an even stranger name: Dustfinger, knows a secret about her father. Mo is reluctant to tell it; instead, suddenly drives them off to visit Meggie’s great-aunt Elinor, all the while hiding a certain book from his daughter.

This is all I’ll give away about this amazing book. Every time I take it off my shelf and open it, the first sentence draws me in, like a magic spell. I think it would captivate anyone with an interest in magic and adventure.

Funke continues the series in Inkspell, and the last part of the trilogy, Inkdeath, came out this month. (I’m about halfway through it!) The movie starring Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, and Paul Bettany comes out January 2009.

I hope you check it out!