Author: Funke, Cornelia Summary:
This book transports its reader to a magical world where books themselves come to life. Meggie is a 12-year-old girl whose childhood has consisted of two major facts. The first fact is that her mother disappeared when she was a young child, and the second fact is that she and her father have moved around a lot her whole life. Meggie’s father (Mo) is a famous book binder and they travel around the country following his work. Meggie’s life takes an unexpected turn when a figure from Mo’s past (Dustfinger) shows up late one night. After a whispered conversation and an early morning attempted get away, Meggie realizes that something is very wrong. The book takes readers to the house of book loving Aunt Elinor, to the seaside town of the writer Fengolio, and ultimately to the run down village controlled by the evil Capricorn. Throughout this incredible story Meggie begins to unravel the secrets of her past. She learns that her father has the unique ability to “read” characters and objects out of books and unfortunately accidentally into books as well. Meggie’s father had accidentally read the evil Capricorn out of the book “Inkheart” several years earlier. Capricorn is now after her father and his last surviving copy of “Inkheart.” It is ultimately up to Meggie to prove how brave she can really be and find a way to save her father, mother, Aunt, and others with a happy ending before it is too late for them all.
Response:
This is such a great book! It is literally one of those page tuners that will keep you up late into the night, engrossed in a world that feels as real as your own. Cornelia Funke does such a great job of creating characters with such unique and loveable details. I would love to be able to “read” characters like these out of the book and into our world. One of my favorite characters of the book would have to be Meggie. She is so real throughout the entire story. She faces many of the challenges kids can face throughout their lives and does so with bravery and maturity. (She does also have her moments of sass just like any pre-teen girl.) She deals with loss, love, betrayal, and fear. She would be a great role model for children to learn from and look up to. One of my favorite things about her is the fact that she absolutely loves to read. She and Mo read everywhere, from the kitchen table in the morning to their beds at night. Mo even made her a beautiful box to put all of her favorite stories in. I think this sends out such a positive message to children. That not only is it good to read, but it is also fun to read.
One of the things that I found most unique about this book was that it opened my eyes to new way of thinking. Often when I read books, I find myself falling into the story. However, in this book the characters were the ones falling into our world. It showed readers how hard it can be for outsiders to learn how to function in such a new and unusual setting. While I was reading, I compared how Dustfinger and Farid felt to how an immigrant into a new country would feel. It truly opened my eyes to a new way of thinking.
Teaching Ideas:
There are so many ways a story like this could be used in classroom. One of the first things I thought of to do with a class is to let the students try to write a story that they would want to “read” to life. They would have to think about what would be the good or bad outcome of such a thing. You could also have students to try to write an alternate ending the story. It would be very interesting to see what your students could come up with. One thing I would definitely have students do would be to discuss the themes of the story. This is a story rich with themes, with one of the more prominent themes being the struggle between good and evil. All in all, a book as good as this one can insprire students to want to read, to write more creatively, and to even think more open mindedly. It is a book that everyone should read and have available in their classroom or library for sure! I look forward to reading (and writing) about the sequel “Inkspell.”
P.S. Here is a link for some more lesson plan ideas:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=324
