Inkheart

So I've wanted to read this for a LONG time. But after numerous recommendations and the kick in the backside of the movie coming out and January (and having a strict "must read book before seeing movie" policy), I moved Inkheart by Cornelia Funke to the top of the list.

GREAT idea! Great for kids (we have it labeled for 4-5th grade reading level, but can go either way depending on reading level or interest of your reader) and great for grown ups! Any booklover. Anyone who wants to see a warm, loving relationship between a father and child. And my librarian heart loves how well twelve year old Meggie and her "book doctor" father Mo treat books. They are cherished.

Meggie's only consistent factors in life are Mo and books. She loves both. She hasn't had a mother since she was three, and for some unknown reason, she and her father don't seem to stay in the same place for more than a year or two at a time. But all that changes when the mysterious Dustfinger arrives. She meets her book-collecting obsessed great aunt Elinor, her father is kidnapped, and Meggie finds out just how much her life mirrors the books she loves. And all of this mystery revolves around one seemingly ordinary book, Inkheart, the book within a book. Mo, also known as Silvertongue, has the fantastic (or devastating?) ability to read books to life... the characters literally come out of the pages as he reads them aloud. But he unwittingly brought some unsavory characters out of Inkheart, and it's up to Meggie, Mo, Elinor, Dustfinger and a few others to set things write... I mean right! Never thought reading aloud could be so dangerous, huh? Thankfully, I cannot read a story to life, or today the library would have been filled with snoring dirty pigs... among countless other characters!

For younger readers, there are some threats of violence to our heroes, but nothing graphic. It starts a little slow, but the story unfolds beautifully. I highly recommend it to booklovers and anyone with an imagination... anyone who ever wondered what would happen if Tinker Bell came out of the book...