Inkheart  (English, Hardcover, Funke Cornelia)

A fantasy novel aimed at young adults, Inkheart is the first book in a trilogy that is very popular as it follows 12 year old Meggie and her father Mortimer on their adventures because of a book.

Summary Of The Book

Inkheart follows the adventures of Meggie and her father, Mortimer, both of whom love books. Her father works as a bookbinder and takes cares of books that are falling apart. Strangely though, he won’t read aloud to Meggie ever since her mother got trapped in a book. However, there is much more to her father than meets the eye and he possesses an extraordinary talent that is sure to place his family in harms way.

The book begins with the sudden visit of a mysterious looking man who Mortimer refers to as Dustfinger. Dustfinger has three slashes across his face and he plays with fire. His appearance is somehow familiar to Meggie and she spies on him and Mortimer to find out why is he at their home. However, she only catches the name Capricorn. The next day, her father implores her to go with him on a journey to her great aunt Elinor’s place. On her way, she comes to know about her father’s great talent that allows him to bring words to life from stories and how Capricorn is trying to locate him to use his talent for his own benefit.

Capricorn had escaped from the book as had Dustfinger, when Mortimer was reading to Meggie when she was little. Another tragic result was the fact that her mother was trapped in the book because of this. The adventure lies in finding a copy of Inkheart before Capricorn can destroy every single copy that exists.

In their adventure, they must evade Capricorn and his dangerous cavalcade of robbers and mercenaries committed to serving his dark needs.

Inkspell and Inkdeath complete the Inkworld trilogy and follow this novel, Inkheart. It received both commercial and critical acclaim and even went on be adapted into a motion picture. It is also considered as one of the Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children as honored by the National Education Association.

About Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke is a popular German writer of children’s fiction. Her other titles include Dragon Rider, The Thief Lord, Igraine the Brave, Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost, Die Wilden Hühner, Ghosthunters and the Muddy Monster of Doom!, The Princess Knight, The Wildest Brother and Reckless.

She grew up in Germany and after studying pedagogy at the University of Hamburg, she enrolled for social service. There, she worked with children and based on this experience decided to begin her writing career keeping them in mind. She has written over 25 novels that include multiple series such as the Inkheart trilogy, the Ghosthunters novels and the Wild Chicks novels. She has sold over 20 million copies of her books worldwide. She has been presented with numerous awards like the La vache qui lit, the Book Sense Children's Literature Award, and the Roswitha Prize. In 2005, she was honored as one of Time’s 100 most influential people. She lives in Beverly Hills, California.