Dare to read aloud….

Inkheart Cornelia Funke
543 pages; published 2003

So Mo began filling the silence with words. He lured them out of the pages as if they had only been waiting for his voice, words long and short, words sharp and soft, cooing, purring words. They danced through the room, painting stained-glass pictures, tickling the skin. (252)

There are books, and then there are books for booklovers. Inkheart definitely falls into the second category.

Twelve year old Meggie Folchart inherited her love of reading from her father Mo (Mortimer), a dedicated bookbinder. Everything about their lives together revolves around their shared passion: reading books, talking about books, collecting books…

Until the day a strange man, with an even stranger name (Dustfinger) turns up and disrupts Meggie’s understanding of the world. Suddenly books aren’t quite as safe as they used to be, her father is not the simple man he always seemed, and villains are no longer limited to the page.

I hate the idea of seeing a movie based on a book BEFORE actually reading the book, so I’ll admit that I bought this book before I really knew what it was about – just that it was had a pretty cover and was something about books… luckily it all worked out well.

Inkheart was a very enjoyable read, a real adventure story for booklovers. The idea of people and creatures literally leaping out of a book through the power of a reading voice is an amazingly beautiful one – even if it’s uncontrollability did have dire consequences in this book. How many times have you wished the books you love could just come to live beside you?

The relationship between Meggie and Mo was heartwarming, a father and daughter with no one but each other, and I hope to see that that progresses with the rest of the trilogy, as Meggie continues to mature – especially in face of everything Inkheart puts her through.

I did feel that the book was a little on the long side, like it dragged a little towards the end, however I will own up to having spent a rather long – and interrupted – time reading it. I am very curious to see how the rest of the series unfolds in Inkspell and Inkdeath. 4/5

The Only Light in the Dark

The City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau
267 pages; published 2004


"So the first Mayor of Ember was given the box, told to guard it carefully, and solemnly sworn to secrecy. When she grew old, and her time as mayor was up, she explained about the box to her successor, who also kept the secret carefully, as did the next mayor. Things went as planned for many years. But the seventh mayor of Ember was less honorable than the ones who'd come before him, and more desperate. He was ill - he had the coughing sickness that was common in the city then - and the thoughts the box might hold a secret that would save his life. He took it from its hiding place in the basement of the Gathering Hall and brought home with him, where he attacked it with a hammer...." (4)


Lina is twelve years old, which is a very exciting age for those who live in the city of Ember, for it is at twelve that children leave school and receive their first job. Lina is hoping to be assigned the job of messenger: she loves to explore and none of her peers can run as fast as her. But, horror of horrors, Lina is not assigned the coveted role of messenger, but of that of a pipe worker; the worst of all assignments.

When her ever-serious classmate Doon approaches her after school, wanting to swap his messenger job for her position at the underground Pipeworks, she’s too relieved to really question it. But then things start to happen: there are strange messages to deliver, blackouts that last longer and longer, and a sudden increase in the rationing of every item.

And then Lina finds a set of secret instructions, destroyed by her baby sister’s gummy chewing. What are they instructions for? Are these secret instructions related to the sudden silent panic and whispering of the mayor, or the determined investigating of Doon? What is happening in Ember?

Stories of the post-apocalyptic genre are one of my favourites, especially ones like these in the vein of Lowry’s The Giver. I’ll admit that I picked up The City of Ember from the library because I knew they were making it into a movie and wanted to beat it to the theatre. Because I knew little more about the book than that, I was surprised to see how young an audience it was aimed at. Because of this, I found it a little predictable in places, but this may not be the case for a younger reader newer to the genre. I liked the characters of Doon and Lina, but can’t help but think they would have been afforded a little more development if they were older. 3.5/5

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Rapunzel's Revenge

Shannon and Dean Hale

Illustrated by Nathan Hale

144 pgs; published 2008

Everyone knows the story of Rapunzel, right? Locked away in a tall tower by an evil witch until the day a handsome, hair-climbing prince comes along to rescue her. Well. Not in this version. For starters, this Rapunzel’s got spunk; she’s not going to just hang around waiting to be rescued. This girl’s out for revenge; revenge against the evil witch who kidnapped her, forced her parents into slavery, and named her after a lettuce.

But Rapunzel soon learns that life outside her tower isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that seeking revenge may be harder that she had anticipated. Mother Gothel’s magic and greed has affected all the surrounding lands, leaving the population poverty stricken and distrustful. This idealistic hair lasso-er, however, may be just what they need to set things straight.

First of all, I have to say that Rapunzel’s Revenge is hilarious. It has infused its text and images with so much humour that I laughed out loud through the whole thing. I love a good story retelling and this one was even better than I had expected. If you enjoy fractured fairytales then I’d definitely give this one a read. 4.5/5

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The Contest - Matthew Reilly

The Contest
Matthew Reilly

405 pages, published 1996

My cousin Joshua had lent me Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders and its sequel Six Sacred Stones just after Christmas and I had really enjoyed them, which was somewhat odd, as ‘action-y’ novels aren’t usually my preference, so I thought I’d give some of his earlier novels a go.

When I learnt that his first novel took place in the New York Public Library I pretty much jumped at the chance to read it. It was not, however, at all what I had expected, being a science fiction novel about an interstellar competition where the last one standing (and still breathing) was the winner. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as SAW or SSS. It was a good book, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it first. 3/5