Midnight for Charlie Bone - Softcover

Nimmo, J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405280921 ISBN 13: 9781405280921

Publisher: Egmont

Synopsis

Classic magic and mystery from one of Britain's best-loved authors of fantasy adventure. Perfect for fans of Eva Ibbotson, Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and Shane Hegarty's Darkmouth. An Academy for magic and special talents. A destiny unfulfilled. A secret legacy. When Charlie Bone discovers that he can hear the voices of people in photographs, his guardian Grandma Bone sends him to Bloor's Academy, a school for children with special gifts. 'Dark, funny, crackling with magic' - author Artemis Cooper on Midnight for Charlie Bone 'A fast moving, dialogue driven romp with plenty of cliff-hangers for those first hooked into reading by Harry Potter' - Bookseller on Midnight for Charlie Bone

About this title

About the Author:

Jenny Nimmo was born in Berkshire, but has lived in a converted watermill in Wales for the past thirty four years. Her husband is a painter and printmaker and they have three children and three grandchildren. She has worked in the theatre, in television and as a governess in Italy. For as long as she can remember, Jenny has loved books. She was six when she went to boarding school and reading was a wonderful escape, it allowed her to believe that she was somewhere else. She begn to write her own stories when she was ten. She cannot help using magic in her work because myths legends and fairy-tales were her favourite reading as a child, and they have remained at the back of her mind ever since. In 1986 her book 'The Snow Spider' won the Smarties Grand Prix and, in 1987, was awarded the Tir na n'Og by the Welsh Arts Council. 'The Rinaldi Ring' was chosen as Guardian Book of the Week, and was shortlisted for the Carnegie medal, for which she received a commendation.Five of Jenny's eight books about Charlie Bone in 'The Children of the Red King' series were on the New York Times bestseller list, and she has now completed 'The Secret Kingdom Trilogy' a prequel to the Charlie Bone Books.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6-When he is 10 years old, Charlie discovers that he is able to look at photographs and hear conversations and even thoughts that were taking place at the time the photo was taken, a legacy of his ancestor the Red King, whose descendants all have different magical abilities. Charlie hears one conversation that sets him on a search for a girl who has been missing for years, and when he begins attending Bloor's Academy, an elite boarding school for the rich and the endowed (as the Red King's descendants are called), his life becomes full of intrigue and danger. Charlie, his friend Benjamin, and other allies try to unlock the secrets of a mysterious case that could get the girl back, while the sinister Bloors and Charlie's ghastly relatives who are endowed try to thwart them. While the parallels with Harry Potter are obvious, this fantasy has its own charms, chief among them being the endoweds' often-odd magical abilities. The writing is deft, most of the characters are intriguing, and Charlie Bone is an appealing boy. The story is marred by some predictability, and the role of the endowed in this otherwise contemporary, unmagical society is not clear. Many aspects of the book are not fully thought out, making it less compelling than it might be. However, this is the first of a projected series, so it will be interesting to see if some of these vague points are resolved. A flawed but worthwhile offering for avid fantasy fans.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Egmont
• ISBN 10: 1405280921
• ISBN 13: 9781405280921
• Binding: Paperback