Inkdeath

Author: Cornelia Funke
Title: InkdeathPublisher: Chicken House (Scholastic Inc.)
Translated: Anthea Bell (Originally, this story was written in German)
Date: German-Original text copyrighted in 2007First American Addition-October 2008Age level: Upper (5-6)
Summary: As Bluejay-Mo's fictionous double-tries to keep the Book of Immortality from unraveling, Adderhead kidnaps all of the children in the kingdom, asking for Bluejay's surrender or the children will be doomed to slavery in the silver mines.
Strengths: What I liked about this book was the plot because this book is a story about a story. It is the third book of the Inkheart trilogy. A man named Mo and his daughter Meggie has the magic ability to read things in and out of books. It is the book "Inkheart" that takes on their journey to another world. In the third book, the plot becomes less organized, and the "Inkheart" story begins to tell its own tales (other than the author Fegnoglio who wrote it).If you have read the first and second book of this amazing trilogy, then in the third book, you can see the different characters changing, developing into different people than what they once was. For example, Mo was at first a shy, quiet bookbinder who loved books, his daughter and who was desperately trying to find his wife (who he magically read into the book "Inkheart"). In the third book, he becomes known as The Bluejay, a mythical hero that the people of Ombra in the sing about. Since he became the Bluejay, he has learned a lot of things about himself, and what he must do. In other words, this story slowly revolves how Mo has changed from a quiet man, to a man full of courage and bravery (the hero).I also loved the imagery the Inkworld produced to the reader's mind. The words are very clear, and Cornelia Funke uses different senses to bring her story and characters to life.I also enjoyed the different lines before the beginning of every chapter. You see, there are different quotes and lines from different types of stories and poems that foreshadows what will happen in that chapter. It gives the reader a smooth transition from those lines and the actual story.
Concerns: There were some characters that I got a little annoyed with. For example, there was a little romance between Mo's daugher, Meggie and Farid (a boy who magically came out of Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights). In the third book, Farid does not really develop throughout the story. Instead he acts like a child and weeps, longing for his Master and friend Dustfinger to return from the land of the Dead. He was so blind to see that Meggie really cared about him, yet he always thought about Dustfinger, and himself. I cannot blame Farid for wanting Dustfinger back (because Dustfinger was like a father figure to him), but he was not alone. In my opinion, he wasn't a strong enough character. When you first meet him in Inkheart, he seemed brave and he did develop, but in the third book his characterization stopped.I was at first annoyed with the character Fegnoglio (the character who wrote Inkheart), because he swore he would never write ever again, and he began drinking. Yet, he slowly began to write a little bit to try and save Mo, but I learned that a story is it's own thing. One cannot write what will happen next. Letting the story take its own course is what makes it so good.
Classroom use: I would highly recommend this book for upper grades because it has a lot of different elements that everyone can enjoy; adventure, fantasy, suspense, characterization, and a little bit of romance. It is truly a story that will take you into another world.