Inkling

Get ready—a little ink blot is about to become your new best friend

The Rylance family is stuck. Dad’s got writer’s block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school—even though he can’t draw. Sarah’s still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom so much more than they can say.

Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance’s sketchbook. Then one night the ink of his drawings runs together—and leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything.

Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple of chapters of his math book—not good—and the story he’s supposed to be illustrating for school—also not good. But Inkling’s also started drawing the pictures to go with Ethan’s story, which is amazing! It’s just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too. For Sarah he’s a puppy. And for Dad he’s a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It’s exactly what they all wanted.

It’s not until Inkling goes missing that this family is forced to face the larger questions of what they—and Inkling—truly need.

With this book, Kenneth Oppel has given us a small masterpiece of middle-grade fiction. Inkling is funny and fizzy and exciting, and it brims with the kind of interesting ideas and dilemmas that kids will love to wrestle with. And Sydney Smith has created wonderfully inky illustrations to bring the story to vivid life.

KENNETH OPPEL is the bestselling author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and was adapted into an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children’s Novel of the Year by the Times (UK). Kenneth Oppel is also the author of Half Brother, This Dark Endeavor, The Boundless, The Nest, Every Hidden Thing, Inkling and the Bloom trilogy. His latest novel is Ghostlight. Ken Oppel lives with his family in Toronto.