As
the saying goes, there is a method in the madness. So also there is a fantasy
in reality. May be there is a reality in the fantasy too. Perhaps fantasy and
reality are two sides of the same coin. Comelia Maria Funke (Baron in 1958)
writes children’s fiction (read fantasy). Children like fantasy and that is
what they get in abundance in Maria Funke’s novel ‘Ink heart’. What with people
getting into the book and characters coming out of the book! ‘Ink heart’
supplies fantasies aplenty. And the writer’s fantasy works on adults too.
Read
on…..
As
the curtain goes up (as the novel begins) Meggie, who is twelve years old
overhears her father Mo (Mortimer) and a stranger Destinger, a character who
has come out of the book Inkheart talk about unfamiliar people and places such
as Capricorn- the villain who too had come out of the book Inkheart. Mo is a
bookbinder and Destinger, an entertainer and a fire eater. A twig (pet) always
sits on his shoulder. Capricorn is desperate to get the original book Inkheart.
Mo
finds out that he possesses a special gift that he could bring things and characters
out of the books by reading Inkheart loudly. Mo for this special gift is called
‘silver tongue’. Capricorn takes Mo, his daughter, Destinger and book’s
original author Fengolio as prisoners to his evil palace. Meanwhile Meggie
finds out that she too possesses the same gift as her father. Capricorn forces
Meggie to read the chapter in the book Inkheart to bring out ‘shadow’, another
villain to serve Capricorn.
Meggie
who was forced to read the particular chapter in the book, secretly plans with
the author Fengolio to change the script of that chapter. Shadow who comes out
of the book turns against its master Capricorn and kills him. The book Inkheart
has been made a successful film of the same name.
National
Education Association named the book Inkheart as one of
the teachers’ top hundred books for the children.
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