Inkheart

Inkheart (2003) by Cornelia Funke. Twelve-year-old Meggie finds her world shaken when her father, Mortimer, takes her on a journey to try to conceal a book that is in his possession. It seems that he can make characters from the book come to life merely by reading it aloud -- and some of the characters he conjures are very unpleasant, indeed.

Turns out that this is the first book in a trilogy aimed at the youth market, and it's not bad. There is plenty here to entertain the young fantasy fan, and just enough so that the reader will probably want to read the sequel, "Inkspell." Grade: For children, A-