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| Source: http://www.booksofwonder.com/prodinfo.asp?number=241387 |
Meggie and her father Mo, a book repairman, move around a lot. Unbeknownst to Meggie, her father read aloud from a book called Inkheart when she was very young. He caused a character named Dustfinger to escape from the book and Meggie's mother to enter into it. When Dustfinger shows up one day, Mo decides they must escape because the evil Capricorn, a character in Inkheart, might find them. They flee to Aunt Elinor's large house filled with her collection of books. They soon discover Dustfinger is a traitor to them and has given them up to Capricorn's men. On various occasions Meggie, Mo, and Elinor are captured and held prisoner in Capricorn's Village. During their trials and tribulations with Capricorn, Meggie discovers she also has the same power to read characters out of books. Among other characters Meggie's mother and a young boy are read back out of the book. Meggie, Mo, Meggie's mother, and Aunt Elinor avenge Capricorn, killing him and torching the entire village. Some characters are read back into the book as well as the author himself. In the end, Dustfinger steals the last copy of Inkheart and it is assumed he will use it to get read back into the book (his true desire). Meggie and both parents live happily together. Aunt Elinor returns back to her house with another prisoner from Capricorn's Village to restore her book collection that was burned by Capricorn's men.
APA Reference:
Funke, C. (2003). Inkheart. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
My Impressions:
This book never ended. At least, it seemed that way. I am not a fan of the fantasy genre. My boyfriend dragged me to the last two Harry Potter movies and I fell asleep through those after spending the first 30 minutes of each frustrated and confused by the plot. It was as if my brain was incapable of comprehending what was happening. I felt exactly the same way with Inkheart. I had a very hard time understanding what was going on. The summary above was written with great difficulty. Despite reading the whole book, I am still not entirely sure what happened. This is not to say the book was without merit. I would recommend it to young fantasy fans. The 528 pages I trudged through would thrill many fantasy-minded students. The length of the book is reminiscent of those thick Harry Potter novels. I can just see the proud smile of accomplishment from a student just finished with Inkheart. Additionally, I found the interaction between Meggie and Mo a sweet father-daughter combination. The connection to other book characters (Tinkerbell, for one) would be a fun element for students. Overall, this is a well-written fantasy book that I would be confident in adding to a school library collection.
Professional Reviews:
Who hasn't dreamed of it — characters leaping from the pages of a book to interact with the reader? Or, better yet, the reader transported — quite literally — into the make-believe world of a novel? In this tale of adventure and fantasy by the author of The Thief Lord (rev. 11 /02), twelve-year-old Meggie and her father Mo live in a house overflowing with "small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new." But it's one particular book that brings a stranger named Dustfinger to their house one rainy spring night. Meggie learns that many years earlier, while Mo was reading aloud a novel called Inkheart, his voice somehow brought many of its characters — including Dustfinger and the evil despot Capricorn — "slipping out of their story like a bookmark forgotten by some reader between the pages." Now Dustfinger (who longs to return to his fictional origins) wants Mo to read him back into the book, while Capricorn (who likes it here just fine) wants Mo to use his powere to read gold and riches out of stories such as Treasure Island and summon a malevolent, immortal character called the Shadow from the pages of Inkheart. Thanks to Harry P., kids may not be scared off by this volume's heft, though they may wish the pacing wasn't quite so leisurely — even the novel's many chases and hostage-takings are related in a deliberate fashion. But bibliophiles will delight in a story that celebrates books (each chapter begins with a literary passage ranging from Shakespeare to Sendak), and the conclusion is especially satisfying.
Sieruta, P. D. (2004). [Review of the book Inkheart, by C. Funke]. Horn Book Magazine, 80(1), 81-82. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/
Gr. 5-8. Mo used to love to read to his daughter Meggie--until he found that had the power to "read" characters both in and out of books. Some of the most wicked creatures from books end up coming to life in his "real" world, and Meggie's mother ends up stuck inside a book. This elaborate fantasy tale of magical beings and high adventure is also a tribute to the power of books.
[Review of the book Inkheart, by C. Funke]. (2004). Book Links, 13(5), 35.Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/
Library Uses:
Fantasy Book Club: Recruit students who are diehard Harry Potter fans to read the Inkheart series then meet a few times to compare the two series, create book trailers and determine a new fantasy series to read for the next semester.
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