Inkheart

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart is a fantasy for 11 year olds about a girl who loves books and a father who's hiding something about them.

What happens

Meggie is twelve and lives with her dad, Mo, in an old farmhouse where there are books EVERYWHERE. Under tables, in the kitchen, even in the loo. Mo mends old books for a living. He's funny and warm and teases her about sleeping with a book under her pillow. And for some reason he has never once read aloud to her.

Then, on a rainy night, a stranger stands in the yard staring at the house. His name is Dustfinger. He has three pale scars across his face and a marten in his rucksack with tiny horns. He calls Mo "Silvertongue", and he's come to warn him about a man called Capricorn.

By morning Mo has packed the camper van and they're driving south to Italy, to stay with Meggie's great-aunt Elinor. Mo has wrapped one book in brown paper and won't say why. Meggie can always tell when he's lying, and he's lying now.

This is a book for children who love books. Meggie takes a whole box of favourites wherever she goes, and even the chapter openings quote other stories, from The Wind in the Willows to The Children of Green Knowe. Elinor's house is one enormous library (she tells Meggie she'd shoot anyone who touched her valuable ones, which is quite a welcome).

It's a slow, rich start, so it suits a confident reader who's happy to sink in. The mystery pulls you along, though. Why the scars? Why is Mo so frightened? And what's so special about one book?

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Dustfinger's description of Capricorn and his men is properly chilling. He talks about them cutting off a nose or an ear without a second thought, and about Capricorn enjoying other people's fear. Meggie's mum isn't part of her life either, and she knows her only from a few faded photos.

If your reader likes a bit of darkness mixed in with their magic, this is a wonderful long book to get lost in.

What to read next

Funke has another story set in Italy. The Thief Lord follows two runaway brothers hiding among the canals of Venice, with a detective in a false walrus moustache hunting for them.