Inkling

Kenneth Oppel's Inkling is a funny, tender story for 9 year olds about a boy who can't draw and a blob of ink that can.

What happens

Ethan's father draws famous comics, so everyone assumes Ethan can draw too. His friends have made him the artist on their class graphic novel. The truth? His gorilla looks like a saggy marshmallow with a pig's head.

Then, one night, the ink slides off the pages of his dad's sketchbook all by itself. It escapes Rickman, the fat old family cat, hides in Ethan's room and starts soaking up the ink from everything it touches. Maths homework. Newspapers. His little sister's picture books. And it can draw. Beautifully.

Ethan names it Inkling. It talks by making shapes (a question mark, a smiley face, a thumbs-up) and teaches itself to write in a day. It's one of the most loveable creatures you'll meet in a book, and you'll feel as protective of it as Ethan does.

Of course, letting Inkling do his project is cheating. Ethan knows it. You watch him talk himself into it anyway, and you'll probably recognise that feeling!

Under the fun there's a family doing its best. Ethan's mum has died, some time before the story starts. His dad hasn't finished a book since, and goes from Coma Dad in the mornings to Grumpy Dad by teatime. His sister Sarah, who has Down syndrome, is bossy and funny and completely herself. Some of the warmest scenes are just the two of them, doctoring her soft toys or playing frisbee.

If your reader has lost someone close, there are moments that might hit home. Inkling erases a photo of Ethan and his mum by accident, draws her back, and then asks where she is. It's handled very gently, and it's the heart of the book rather than a shock.

For any child who's ever felt they don't measure up to someone in their family, this is a real treat.

What to read next

If Inkling goes down well, Kenneth Oppel also wrote Silverwing. It's a completely different world, a colony of bats, but Shade is the same kind of hero, the runt everyone teases, desperate to catch a tiger moth and prove them wrong.