Off the Bookshelf: CHARLIE BONE AND THE TIME TWISTER, by Jenny Nimmo

Book 2 in the Children of the Red King series.

This book takes up soon after Book 1 ends. Charlie Bone is still stuck going to the horrific Bloor's Academy, but at least now he has a circle of friends who are willing to take chances with him, despite misunderstandings and letting the bullies and (quite honestly) psychos with power and influence manipulate them.

I think the worst part of the whole situation poor Charlie has to survive on a daily basis is that his own family has thrust him into the school and daily harassment and unfairness. Granted, just his father's side of the family, and considering what has happened to his father -- vanished, presumed dead, but with hints that he's still alive and lost somewhere out there -- as punishment for defying their will ... Charlie needs all the help he can get.

He's an ordinary boy in a lot of ways, but he's learning fast to deal with his unwanted gift, and when a situation drops almost on top of him, he's willing to take responsibility and help out.

In this case, a magical time travel object (which is pretty nasty in and of itself, considering how it captures its victims) takes a boy from nearly a century ago and drags him forward to the present Bloor's Academy. Bad enough to lose everyone and everything you know and love, but the nasty relative who got you in trouble in the first place is still around, and he hasn't improved with age and he's determined to destroy you. Charlie and his growing circle of friends, including people who are learning to get around their problems, to the rescue!

Fun series. I'm glad I bought a stack of the books and they're just waiting for me to have time to read.

Off the Bookshelf: MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE, by Jenny Nimmo

This is one of YA books I picked up at the Half Price Books blowout sale at the fairgrounds. I had actually been looking at the series whenever I visited the store, because there were so many of them. I figured, a series that kept going like that ... well, it must mean it's good.

Warning. There are 7 of these books (so far, could be more) about Charlie Bone and his friends with strange talents and destinies and mysterious, creepy opponents. The series is called Children of the Red King, and we're told right from the beginning that some are good, some are bad, and just because the parents are good (or evil) doesn't guarantee the children are good (or evil). They keep switching places.

Don't worry. I won't read all of the books in a row. I have to read A GAME OF THRONES and get it back to the library. Weird, huh, reading a popular book for homework? Well, I'm laying the groundwork for a fantasy series and I thought I'd pitch it as, "Like Game of Thrones," but I can't say that until I've read at least the first book and maybe watched the first season on DVD, right? But if you want to see some of the images I'm gathering for the books, it's on my Pinterest boards under "Tapestry: Servants of the Unseen." Gonna be fun!

Anyway, back to MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE. Charlie is a little boy who thinks he's pretty ordinary. He lives with his widowed mother and two grandmothers, and his eccentric great-uncle who never comes out during the day and keeps to himself. Then one day he realizes that he can look at pictures and hear what the people in the pictures were thinking and saying. Grandmother Bone is delighted -- or not -- and she and her arrogant, nasty sisters insist Charlie has to go to Bloor's Academy for gifted children. Warning: it is not a nice place. Lots of creepiness, starting with the head of the school and his bully son. Charlie falls into a mystery, and makes friends, and learns to stand up for himself. He solves one mystery, dealing with a kidnapped little girl, but many more are ahead of him. Including evidence that his father isn't dead after all.

Seven books. I'm going to try for one each month, to kind of savor them. If you're thinking Harry Potter with this series, there are some similarities, but this story and hero stand on their own very well.