Book Review For Young Readers By Lauren Schmidt:Good Versus Evil

Inkspell

By Cornelia Funke

Chicken House / Hardcover / $19.99

Ages 8 and up

Inkspell is the second book in the Inkworld series and has the same wonderful cast. Cornelia Funke keeps the story going and even sets the end up for another book.

Dustfinger is not happy in the world of Meggie and wants to get back into Inkheart. Farid, Dustfinger’s new apprentice wants to go wherever Dustfinger’s goes, so he is very upset when Dustfinger is written back into Inkheart and he is not. Meggie helps Farid get back into the story but she goes along, too. When they are in the story, they realize that something terrible has happened to this beloved book.

The bad is winning over the good. The story is changing all the time, but luckily Fenoglio, the original author of the story, is stuck in the book and hopefully can set ever thing to rights. Unfortunately, “Fenoglio liked sad stories. And perhaps he had just written another.” With Silvertongue and Meggie to help read the words, maybe the characters can change Fenoglio’s sad ending into a happy one.

Inkspell has many twists and turns. Assorted characters come in and out of the Inkworld, but all leave a lasting impression on the story. Both boys and girls will love the ensemble cast. The ending is the perfect setup for a third book and leaves the reader wondering if Silvertongue and Meggie can make the ending happy.

A Blue So Blue

By Jean-François Dumont

Sterling / Hardcover / $14.95

Ages 4 and up

This book won the Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2004 from Prix Saint-Exupéry. Children can follow a little boy around the world as he searches for a very special blue. He travels from museums, to the sea and beyond in search of a blue that he saw in his dream. Little does he know that what he is looking for is closer to home than he thinks.