Cornelia Funke's Inkheart

The book I read is called Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke. The genre of this book is fantasy-adventure, and it takes place in 2003. I can infer that it takes place somewhere in Italy because one of the characters says that the Romans built the roads. Funke has written one other book that takes place in Italy, so I suppose that this one does too. The book is about a girl named Meggie whose life changed when she realized that her father and she were able to read people and objects out of books. Meggie experienced one of the most enchanting and thrilling times of her life as she fought Capricorn, an evil ruler who was released from a book called Inkheart.

One rainy night, a stranger named Dustfinger came to warn Meggie Folchart and her father Mo about Capricorn, an evil man who wants a certain book in Mo's possession. The trio decided to hide the book at Meggie's rich aunt Elinor's large mansion; it would be a perfect hiding place because Elinor had millions of books in her library. But one of Capricorn's men, Basta, found out where they were hiding the book and came to kidnap Mo. Of course, he took the book with him. Since Basta couldn't read, he was fooled into taking the wrong book!

When Meggie found out that they took the wrong book, she heeded Dustfinger's words of wisdom. She knew that Capricorn would kill Mo if he didn't get what he wanted. So Elinor, Meggie, and Dustfinger went to the Devil's Anvil, Capricorn's village with the real book. Arriving at the village, Elinor and Meggie found out that Dustfinger was in fact a traitor who had been hired by Capricorn to “bring the girl and the book.” But Dustfinger himself had been betrayed by Capricorn, who had promised Dustfinger a copy of the book, but never gave it.

Meggie wondered what could be so important about the book when she and Elinor were shoved into a small slum home at the side of Capricorn's village. Mo was in the same house, and he explained everything that both Meggie and Elinor were dying to know: who were these people, and why was the book so important? Mo explained that nine years before this, he was reading aloud to Meggie's mother from the special book, Inkheart, when Capricorn, Dustfinger, and Basta, who were characters from Inkheart, appeared in their living room. At the same time, Meggie's mother, Teresa, vanished into the paper pages of the book. This was the very reason that Mo never read aloud again, fearing Meggie's safety.

Soon Capricorn wanted to hear Mo's voice again. He wanted Mo to read some gold out of Treasure Island. Mo successfully did this, but Capricorn wasn't satisfied. So Mo began to read out of Ali and the Forty Thieves. Much to his surprise, a boy, about Meggie's age appeared in the room, and one of Capricorn's men disappeared. This boy's name was Farid. Capricorn decided that the gold he had was enough for the day. Then Capricorn did something that horrified Elinor, Meggie, and Mo. He burned every single copy of Inkheart except for one, which he kept as his personal copy. He did this in case anybody tried to read him back into the book.

That night, the betrayed Dustfinger went to seek his revenge. He decided to free Elinor, Meggie, Mo, and Farid. Farid, who was fascinated by Dustfinger's fire-eating talent, followed him everywhere. The five went to a nearby village. Elinor, who still had her credit card, checked them into a luxurious hotel to stay for the night. The next day, Mo, Meggie, Farid, and Dustfinger went to meet Fenoglio, the author of Inkheart, in case he had a copy, while Elinor drove home.

When Elinor reached home, she cheerfully went into her library to see her rather large and unhealthy collection of books. But Capricorn's men had been there first and had burned all of her books. Not even the picture books had been spared. Elinor, weeping loudly, ran to her car and drove directly to the hotel. Meanwhile, Mo told Fenoglio everything about what had happened. He also suggested a plan of what to do. Outside, Farid and Dustfinger ran away towards Capricorn's Village. Getting the last copy of Inkheart was the only way that Dustfinger could return to his own world. Mo got a call to get Elinor from the hotel. When he had gone, there was a knock on the door. It was Basta!

It turns out that Basta had seen them leaving the hotel and had followed them until Fenoglio's house. Fenoglio tried to convince Basta that he indeed had written Basta's fate in Inkheart. Basta, who was still unconvinced, took Fenoglio with him as well as Meggie. That way, Mo would come looking for Meggie to Capricorn's Village. Basta reached Capricorn's village at the same time that Dustfinger did. He and Farid hid in an abandoned house at the edge of the village. Meggie and Fenoglio were kept in a room in Capricorn's house. Mo and Elinor arrived at the outskirts. In theory there was a three-way attack towards the village: two from outside, one from inside.