PERSONAL RESPONSE- Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Ink heart in my opinion is an adventurous fantasy novel. It has a thick plot of magic and adventure with dangers.

The story follows a book binder, Mortimer and his daughter Meggie. Mortimer has a rather large secret that involves a very unusual talent. Whenever mortimer reads aloud he can produce or summon things from the book. The problem with this though is that overtime something is summoned from the book, and a person or object from our world switches with it and goes into the book. This so called talent of Mortimer’s makes life dangerous and complicated for him and his 12 year old daughter. This gift in which he possesses is not witchcraft, and he has no control over it and life would be easier without it.

One theme I noticed in the plot was love. Love among people, friends, family, the affection for things imagined and the appreciation of the real world and the fondness of books and what they teach people who read them. It is like having a mentor in real life instead of a book whom teaches life lessons, to the student or reader. Love connects with the reader as it is something most people would have already experienced in their lives. Even though no one may actually understand love, we all have it in our family. I am so young to understand or have a lot of love in my life, yet I have seen so very often the people that would do anything out of love for family or friends. Meggie and Mo face the same journey and seize it together; the plot strengthens their love for one another and makes them value the relationship they have. Cornelia Funke also shows her deeper appreciation and love for books as well as the characters by adding a quote at the start of each chapter from books that she obviously has taken interest in. These quotes are a personal touch to the book by Cornelia and show a deeper love and affection for books, it is her act to share her expressions and love for books.

The theme of love relates well to passion which is something that is deeply involved in my life.  An example of passion in my life would be sport, as it is something I am heavily involved in and care about. Passion drives people to make change and do certain things in life. Passion of someone such as Malala Yousafzai, a girl who was kidnapped and shot but ISIS came back to the world with an attitude to help and develop an awareness of what is happening to the girls in Pakistan.  Ink heart shows the passion for books and how they communicate new ideas on one persons life or a creative imagery adventure in a persons brain that they can escape to.