Midnight for Charlie Bone

November 11, 2002
The first in the projected Children of the Red King series, this paper-over-board British fantasy reads like ersatz Harry Potter. Charlie Bone, a likable "ordinary" boy of about 10, lives with his loving widowed mom and her mother, a salt-of-the-earth type, and his foreboding but wealthy paternal relations, who are "endowed" (with psychic abilities) and who watch Charlie for signs of the Yewbeam family gift. When Charlie suddenly begins to "hear" subjects in photographs, the Yewbeams delightedly pack him off to Bloor's Academy for similarly gifted children. Before he enrolls, however, voices from photographs lead him into a mystery, pointing to a suspicious baby "adoption" and involving clues about his own father's past; while these are the most original elements here, they, too, are familiar. At the Hogwarts-like Bloor's, Charlie is thrust into an ongoing struggle of good vs. evil, accompanied by new friends (an albino orphan, a drama diva and a musician) and confronted with mesmerizing foes (chiefly, the scion of the power-mad Bloor family). Nimmo writes solidly, but her powers of invention (shown in, for example, her Griffin's Castle) cannot withstand the comparison she invites with J.K. Rowling. Next in the series, The Time Twister. Ages 12-up.

September 8, 2003
An air of suspense appropriately colors British actor Beale's deft reading of Nimmo's diverting fantasy—the first in a planned trilogy—about a boy possessed of unusual powers and the odd mysteries that swirl around him. Young Charlie is confused when he hears voices coming from a photograph, but his paternal grandmother takes pleasure in this development, believing Charlie is endowed with the family talent for magic. It's quickly determined that Charlie will attend Bloor's Academy for gifted children—where "gifted" takes on a whole new meaning. At his new school Charlie finds himself trying to unravel the complicated story of a fellow student, someone believed to have appeared in one of the photos that Charlie has heard. Beale sounds innocent, curious or sinister as the case may be while he portrays young Charlie and his friend Ben, plus Charlie's sour grandmother Bone and a coven of great-aunts. The result is good fun, just in time for Harry Potter listeners who need a fresh fix of adventure. One note: A few of the Britishisms that appear on the recording do not appear in the American print edition of the book. Ages 9-up.