Midnight for Charlie Bone

The book Midnight Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo. It is great for all ages. If you liked Harry Potter you will love this one. I think it's a perfect book to read with your family because it is short and easy to read. It's about a boy Charlie, who lives with his mom, Uncle Paton, and his two grandmothers. One grandmother, Grandma Bone, tries to kill Charlie through out the book. There is also Mazie kind-hearted just like a grandma should be except when Grandma Bone walks into the room. One day Charlie has the misfortune of getting the wrong picture from the picture shop. When he pulls the picture out of its envelope and he starts hearing voices that are unrelated to his surroundings. The voices start talking about a baby girl that has been traded for a long silver case. He slams the picture face down on the table and then the mystery starts to unfurl.

Charlie Bone isn't your typical nine-year-old boy. Although he didn't know that himself. But when photographs get mixed up and he ends up with a picture of a man and a little girl that talks to him, he knows everything that was normal about his life is gone forever. Tracking down the picture, Charlie finds out it belongs to Miss Ingledew, a woman who owns a bookshop and has been looking for her missing niece for years. She gives Charlie a mysterious package (that he can't open) and sets him on his journey that will change everything in his world. As it turns out, Charlie is one of the descendants of the Red King, a mysterious person who had wondrous magical powers who went into hiding. The Red King's children have been equally divided between good and evil ever since. At Bloor's Academy, Charlie finds friends and enemies, and the challenge of his lifetime as he tracks down secrets others don't want revealed.

Jenny Nimmo is the author of five books in the Charlie Bone series and has written several other children's books and fantasies.

Many people compare Charlie Bone to Harry Potter, and that's a good comparison. But the two series are different. Harry's family is really non-supportive, but Charlie has a loving mother, a doting grandmother, and Uncle Paton, who turns out to be something of a hero. The book is a fun, fast-paced whirlwind of mysteries, magic, and friendship. Even at 400 pages, it feels like it's over much too soon.

There are a few jarring instances where the point-of-view was disconnected, moving from one character and one scene into another without warning. They were easily overlooked due to the pacing of the story, but noticeable all the same.

Fans who are waiting for the next Harry Potter book who haven't tried the Charlie Bone series are encouraged to do so. Charlie's story, although similar, has much to offer in reading excitement.

Forget about the inevitable "Harry Potter comparisons. MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE is closer to Roald Dahl than J.K. Rowling. Certain characters-- Charlie, Uncle Paton-- are well developed, while others are basically two-dimensional. This does not take away from the book's charm. Indeed, as the start of a series, it is to be expected. There are disjointed moments and loose ends aplenty, but they leave you yearning for more, and hopefully vthe author will resolve them (and lay out some others) in future books.
The story is definitely different: darker than most, but not too
frightening. Certainly it is age-appropriate (and even adults might get a kick out of it), although there are not many likeable characters to start out.
There is something delightfully engrossing about the saga of Charlie Bone, and kids will be drawn to it.
Enjoy!

These books were first recommended to me by a woman in a book shop. I listened to a sample of Midnight For Charlie Bone, the first in the series, and liking what I heard, I took a gamble. I am extremely glad I did. I instantly loved the way this book was written. Jenny Nimmo has a warm and endearing style which has a charm all of it's own. The story is very gripping and easy and enjoyable to read.

It tells the story of Charlie Bone, a seemingly ordinary boy, until he discovers that he possesses a rather strange talent. He has the ability to hear voices in photographs. He soon learns that there is a lot more to this talent, particularly when a conversation overheard in a picture sets Charlie on the road to uncovering the past of a missing girl.

He is sent to a boarding school where other children with special talents are pupils. Charlie discovers that all these children, him included, are descendants of The Red King. A magician king who ruled long ago. But the teachers of Blurs Academy are bent on controlling all the Endowed children, and not all of The Red King's children are on the same side. Someone is very keen on preventing Charlie and his friends from solving the mystery of the missing girl, and from discovering the whereabouts of Charlie's father, lost when Charlie was a baby, and believed dead by his wife and friends.

This book oozes magic, mystery and atmosphere, and the characters, despite their peculiar talents, are very normal and down to earth. It's one of the only books I've read though where the hero isn't my favourite character.

Simon Russle Bealle is an excellent narrator and has read the other books in the series so far. Adults and children alike will really love this book and its sequels.

This book is about a boy, Charlie Bone, who posesses a magical gift. Although he doesn't know it, many other children also have these strange powers. When Charlie's aunts realize that he is endowed (meaning that he aquired a gift that one of his ancestors had) they sent him off to a school for geniuses. Once there, Charlie gets wrapped up in an amazing mystery.
I first purchased this book at my school book fair last year. I immediately started to read the book and fell in love with it. I also love the Harry Potter books, and I think anyone who is a fan of Harry Potter will enjoy this book also. Even if you are not too crazy about Harry Potter, I think you should give this book a try anyways. This is a book anyone could fall in love with. After you read this book, don't forget to read Charlie Bone and the Time Twister!

I doubt there is a review here without the words 'Harry Potter' in it, but that's because so much in this book either resembles something from the HP books, or its evil twin. This is a much darker and more suspenseful world than HP: no fun pranks with friends in the corners of a cuddly, friendly school....Charlie attends Bloor Academy, run by dark and evil people, where, if an accident threatens your life, the staff is more likely to have caused it than to investigate it. It makes for a fun and suspenseful read, and Charlie's attempts to thwart both the dark side of his family and the school is aided by a few trustworthy friends. (Though it's hard to tell exactly who is trustworthy!) Interesting characters abound. My biggest beef with the books is: it's SO obvious where Charlie's father is! WAKE UP, Charlie!

The book that I am reading is Midnight for Charlie Bone this book was written by Jenny Minmo. It is great. Charlie finds out that he can hear people talk in pictures. It all starts when he is making a card for his best friend and his mom is going to blow up a picture for the front and he gets a picture with a man with a baby on the front. Now his aunts find out about that and they are sending him to a special school for this so he con become very good at what he does/ can do. Charlie goes out to find the people that the picture belongs to. When he finds them he gets a present for his friend so that he can go to his party that day. I don�t want to give it away but this book is great this book and I would give it five stars. I would recommend this to a friend. You should try it and you�ll like it.

Of all the Harry Potter clones to appear shortly after its sudden popularity, none seemed as blatant as the "Charlie Bone" books. With titles like, "Charlie Bone and the Time Twister" and "Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy" as well as a plot involving a magical boy going away to school, the comparisons seemed obvious. In both cases a ten-year-old boy with unruly hair discovers that he comes from a magical lineage and attends a school where he befriends others like him. Just the same, that's pretty much where the similarities stop. Harry Potter is a friendless familyless pauper. Charlie Bone has too many relatives and even more to discover. Hogwarts is run by a kindly and wise old man. Bloors Academy is run by a wizened dry husk of a fellow. Most importantly though, Harry Potter was an engaging and original story that followed a linear path and told a great tale. Charlie Bone is a perfectly likable but otherwise forgettable trip into a nebulous world with ill-defined parameters. As you can see, they have very little alike.

In Charlie's family, people tend to have magic powers. They are "endowed". Until he turns ten, however, Charlie is as normal a lad as you could hope for. An unfortunate circumstance involving a photograph, however, reveals that Charlie can hear voices come from such images. Before you can say "flibbertygibbet", he is whisked off to the gloomy Bloors Academy to attend classes with geniuses and "endowed" kids like himself. Along the way, he discovers a nasty plot involving a kidnapped baby, the mysterious circumstances surrounding his father's disappearance, and the fact that the magical community is pretty evenly divided between the good and the bad with Charlie stuck in the middle.

One of the problems with the series is that Nimmo doesn't quite understand the finer points of telling a story. According to the book, people are born good or bad. Good people are born to bad ones and bad to good and there's no controlling it. Moral ambiguity takes a hike in a series where your soul is basically at the mercy of the fates. You're either born a good 'un or a bad 'un. Nobody is in the middle (not even poor little albino boy Billy Raven, who's basically a good kid at heart). The book's also unapologetically chauvinist. Women just don't figure very highly into Nimmo's imaginings. With the sole exception of one Olivia Vertigo (she falls down... it's a thing), the girls don't do anything in this book. When Charlie's best friend Benjamin's parents finally start paying attention to their son, he proclaims wildly, "Mom says she's only going to work while I'm in school, never at night, and never on the weekends". No word on what Dad's doing in the interim. When Charlie needs help being rescued at the story's end, it isn't any of the magical females that come to aid. Just the strapping young men. Oog. Young women are usually in peril and old women are either motherly or crones. Kind of a nice eighteenth-century view of the weaker sex, eh?

Then there's the question about why Charlie's searching for this lost baby in the first place. He hasn't any connection to the child. No ties to her in any way. Why would a ten-year-old boy be risking (virtually) his life to save someone he doesn't even know? At least when Harry Potter was trying to find the sorcerer's stone in his first book he needed it because he knew the big bad guy would kill him otherwise. Charlie labors under no such threat and as such his motives are sketchy at best. There's also the fact that he's a pretty passive hero. He needs saving at the story's end and he's constantly putting true friends (like the abandoned Benjamin) in danger for reasons unclear. Nimmo never makes clear whether this is an alternate world where magic is just sort of accepted or if Bloors is the exception to the rule. And for that matter, we never discover the reason why the baby Charlie's trying to find was kidnapped in the first place. Perhaps Nimmo addresses this in future books, though. She certainly leaves enough questions blowing in the wind. One of these questions, where is Charlie's father, is so breathtakingly obvious that the fact that Charlie has STILL apparently not discovered it by the fourth book is almost too painful to bear. I suspect that seven-year-olds who are read this book could figure it out, easy-peasy. Hopefully, however, Nimmo's too clever to give us the obvious answer. I have no such high hopes, unfortunately.

Lacking in Rowling's humor, "Charlie Bone" is just a tepid substitute for those kids so hepped up on Harry that they'll take anything to cure them of Potter withdrawal. Just the same, it isn't half as terrible as some of the two-bit fantasy produced today (Chronicles of Droon, anyone?). Nimmo definitely has a larger plot in mind and though she seems to be taking her own sweet time to cut to the chase (it takes some 154 pages before Charlie even reaches the school), she's at least trying. So kudos there. If you're looking for a new fantasy series but are scared to try anything too daring or original, "Midnight For Charlie Bone" should be a perfect fit. Fine without being extraordinary. Kinda like Charlie.

When I first picked up the book Midnight for Charlie Bone thought it would be exactly like the Harry Potter books. Boy, was I wrong! Even though Midnight for Charlie Bone might sound a lot like Harry Potter it really isn't. Midnight for Chalie Bone is a remarkable tale about a boy who finds out he is enowed and can hear voices in photographs. Now, Charlie must attend the Bloor's Academy for gifted children.
When Charlie first finds out about his special power he gets tied up into a mystery about a now dead inventor and his daughter whom he swapped. Charlie needs to figure out the mystery behind the girl before it's to late and survive life at Bloor's. Can he do it? You will have to read to fnd out! I would recomend this book to anybody!

Charlie Bone was an almost normal boy, almost as normal as his best friend Benjamin Brown. He had two grandmothers, a mom, three aunts, one great uncle, but his father, Lyell Bone, disappeared in 1994. That is, until he discovered he had a mysterious endowment. He can hear the thoughts of people in photographs! He must now attend the mysterious Bloor's Academy for school. All of the other endowed go there for school. Plus, now his three evil aunts want him to turn evil as well! But his mysterious Uncle Paton won't let them take him. He also might even have a mysterious endowment! Can he and his newly met friends help uncover the mystery of one of the school's many students for the sake of the one Uncle Paton admires?

Jenny Nimmo weaves a setting and wraps you up in it's web. You may think this book is a lot like Harry Potter but this book has endowments, not spells. Nimmo creates a series that children 9 to adults would love! I think this book really deserves the five stars I give it! I hope you will read and love this book and series too!I think the other reviews ar wrong if they say this book is a wast of time and money! This book is great! At least try it! Please?!

This book is probably one of the only series that is keeping up with JK Rowling's and Lemony Snicket's books! This book is great! I read tons of Harry Potter books and loved them, but got tired of wasting time reading the series over and over again waiting for the other books to come out. If you like Harry Potter, you will love this book. The best thing about this book is that you get different reading types such as mystery and fantasy all in one book. The only downside is that the book takes a lot of time getting Charlie to Bloor's Academy. But if you give the book time it's worth it. I would recommend this book to people 10 and up. I would even recommend this book to an adult. GO OUT AND READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

The book that I am reading is Midnight for Charlie Bone this book was written by Jenny Minmo. It is great. Charlie finds out that he can hear people talk in pictures. It all starts when he is making a card for his best friend and his mom is going to blow up a picture for the front and he gets a picture with a man with a baby on the front. Now his aunts find out about that and they are sending him to a special school for this so he con become very good at what he does/ can do. Charlie goes out to find the people that the picture belongs to. When he finds them he gets a present for his friend so that he can go to his party that day. I don�t want to give it away but this book is great this book and I would give it five stars. I would recommend this to a friend. You should try it and you�ll like it.

To start off, I definitely liked it. I purchased this book as a gift for my 9 year old son who was sucked into the whole HP mania and loves to read. I read it after he did and really wasn't disappointed. Yeah there are similarities to the HP books, but honestly who cares? The story stands on its own and I'm looking forward to reading the second book.
The one major flaw I think I had a problem with in the book is when Charlie finds out that his father is still alive. It seemed a little unbelievable to me that he would continue to search for the missing girl and not go after his father. I'm sure Nimmo had to save something for the future books, but come on. That seemed a little ludicrous to me.
Other than that I liked it and I definitely liked Uncle Paton. Would highly recommend this as a gift for any young adult reader who has even a remote interest in the Harry Potter books or who is just looking for a good book to read. And all you grown ups out there might like it too.

If you love the Harry Potter series and are waiting for the next book you should try the exciting and mischevious book Midnight for Charlie Bone which is very much similar to Harry Potter but just not as long.This thrilling book starts out with the main character Charlie who has a normal life until he starts hearing strange vioces and then soon relizes that they are coming out of a picture.Once charlie figures out that he ha s a special talent his mean Grandma Bone sends him to a strange school called Bloors Acdemy a school for children with weird talents.What this will charlie find out from this school?Why is his Grandma Bone always asking where he is going? You will have to read to find out!

This book was written for children but as an adult, I found it to be a highly enjoyable quick read, something to spark the imagination. Charlie Bone is a young boy who lives with his mother and various other relatives. He discovers that he has a mysterious talent and learns some secrets about his family as well. He is dismayed to find out that because of this talent he will be required to attend a stuffy boarding school; but upon arriving there, he realizes that this is no ordinary school. There are some similarities to the Harry Potter series, but enough differences and originality to keep the reader's attention throughout. If you enjoyed the Harry Potter books, then you must read Charlie Bone!

If you love the Harry Potter series and are waiting for the next book you should try the exciting and mischevious book Midnight for Charlie Bone which is very much similar to Harry Potter but just not as long.This thrilling book starts out with the main character Charlie who has a normal life until he starts hearing strange vioces and then soon relizes that they are coming out of a picture.Once charlie figures out that he ha s a special talent his mean Grandma Bone sends him to a strange school called Bloors Acdemy a school for children with weird talents.What this will charlie find out from this school?Why is his Grandma Bone always asking where he is going? You will have to read to find out!

This book was written for children but as an adult, I found it to be a highly enjoyable quick read, something to spark the imagination. Charlie Bone is a young boy who lives with his mother and various other relatives. He discovers that he has a mysterious talent and learns some secrets about his family as well. He is dismayed to find out that because of this talent he will be required to attend a stuffy boarding school; but upon arriving there, he realizes that this is no ordinary school. There are some similarities to the Harry Potter series, but enough differences and originality to keep the reader's attention throughout. If you enjoyed the Harry Potter books, then you must read Charlie Bone!

I absolutely loved this book (and the series as well) when i was a child and am now in my 20's and recently remembered having read most of the series(except for the last one and the prequels) i decided to do a review. The first book in the series Midnight for Charlie Bone is excellent and a great start to the rest of the series. Without trying to give too much of the story away, the story starts off with Charlie Bone who discovers he has a special gift or endowment depending on how you look at it and under the decision of his grandmother and great aunts(who are absolutely horrible by the way) is sent to the special school in the city called Bloor's Academy. Bloor's Academy is a boarding school/academy for gifted children. I consider it a boarding school because the children stay there from Monday to Friday when they can go home. There are three main departments: art, music and drama. Along with the children who are gifted in these three departments there is also a group of children that attend the academy who have other gifts that are more paranormal than not who are called Children of the Red King. Their gifts range from the somewhat normal gifts of telekinesis, hypnotism and shape shifting to the rather odd gifts such as talking to animals and feeling emotions and scenes through clothing and hearing voices in photographs which is Charlie's endowment. Charlie makes friends while at Bloor's, some who are also children of the Red King and a few who are just gifted in one of the three departments. In the first book Charlie and his friends are on a mission to save a girl who has been hypnotized into a deep sleep in the first book that will eventually lead to a possible link to the mysterious disappearance of Lyell Bone who is Charlie's father.

Overall this is a wonderful and well written book for the intended age group and a nice break from those who may be into Harry Potter. The two series may be compared but when it comes down to it the Children of the Red King series is very different and there is a wider variety of paranormal aspects to the series. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has read harry potter and wants to read something that has more of a variety of paranormal aspects to it. I say this because while harry potter is about witches and wizards and certain magical creatures, the Children of the Red King series explores more of the different paranormal gifts one can have like telekinesis, hypnotism, conjuring up spirits, power-boosting, and clairvoyance just to name a few.

This book is also perfect for not only the intended age group but also teenagers and adults if they want a somewhat (meaning it's not too heavy of a story line or hard to follow) light fun series about magic and the more paranormal side of it.
This is the first book in the series and each book after reveals more and more about the characters and each add to the storyline. If you like this book then I recommend reading the rest of the series.

This book was very well done and clearly thought out. It is very descriptive and draws you in with excitement and drama. Jenny Nimmo is a very good author because she takes time to think about what's going on in her story. I had a very hard time putting this book down and would read it for hours and hours at a time. I would very much recommend this book to people who like non-fiction or fantasy books with people who have special powers. I would give this book a 5-star rating.

Midnight for Charlie Bone has great characters with unusual personalities. Some of them are Olivia who is a "drama queen", Charlie who is brave, and Manfred who is sneaky and thinks he's all that. But he really isn't all that because he is cruel and a bad guy with an evil plan. Some other characters that make performances in this book include Fidelio, Miss Ingledew, Ben, Uncle Paton, Maisie, Grandma Bone, Billy, Emilia, Gabriel, Mr. Ominous, and the Yebeam aunts.

These characters make up a book that is about a boy named Charlie who figures out he can hear what's going on in photographs. Once Charlie's aunts hear about this they send him off to Bloor's Academy. This school is filled with musicians, actors/ actresses, artists and those who are gifted with magical powers, such as Charlie's unique power. At Bloor's, Charlie makes some friends and enemies as he tries to find the secret girl and wake her up from a spell. He also tries to keep a very valuable case hidden until its time to use it. All this happens in one book? Believe it and there's even more exciting things that happen to Charlie during his stay at Bloor's Academy. So read this 401 page book!

Enjoyed the book. Will be interesting to see how the main character, Charlie, is developed.
Very similar premise of other magic themed books (which ultimately leapt successfully to the big screen) so might be considered a bit stale, but all-in-all, a decent way to have your young tween to spend a weekend. (There are some dark themes, so perhaps appropriate for only tween readers? But if they read & enjoyed the HP novels, should be no problem).

Would def recommend this author & series!

Charlie has a special power and so do other children. For example, he can listen to photographs. Charlie meets a girl, and he has to find out about her past with his three friends. He reveals the girl's past for sweet Miss Ingledew who lives in a bookstore by the chapel. He uncovers it using a little silver case to show the mystery inside. Emma Tolly wakes up after years of being hypnotized. Charlie saves the day in the first Charlie Bone book by Jenny Nimmo.

I loved this book because of the excitement and trills the author put in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read mysteries. I would recommend Charlie Bone and the Time Twister or Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy to anyone interested in mysteries.

Midnight For Charlie Bone is a very compelling story that keeps you longing for more. The book starts out with a Prologue that gives you a brief history of The Red King, it then starts with Charlie's dilemna over getting the wrong photograph and hearing what people are saying in pictures. This picture leads to a chain of events which include three cats called Sagitarius, Leo, and Aries, some very cool shoes, a robot recording dog, a wolf, and a feast, that end up in saving a girl. Along with an uncle who shatters glass when he's happy, a weird school, and a fat dog who thinks he Blessed, the book deserves every single star I gave it and more.

As a fantasy author myself, Awaken: Dark Magic (Book One) (Fated Saga, Contemporary Young Adult + Fantasy Series) I'm delighted to give this series a thumbs up! I've seen some readers compare it to the Harry Potter series, but other than a young boy attending magic school, the plot and style of these books is unique and the author weaves a wonderful tale. Young readers that enjoy fantasy and magic will enjoy reading about Charlie's adventures, and parents can rest easy that their children are reading great books meant for younger readers.

This is a great book for people that like suspense and mystery. It is about a young boy named "Charlie Bone" who is one of the descendants of the Red King. Charlie has inherited one of the kings powers where he can hear voices in photos. He is sent to a school that endowed children with powers have to go to. Bloors is not an ordinary school. Many strange things happen there and Charlie Bone is trying to figure out what they are. I recommend that many people read this book. Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, Book 1: Midnight for Charlie Bone) It's a great book

Charlie Bone likes soccer and TV, but not much else. He likes to hang out with his next-door neighbor and best friend, Benjamin Brown, and Benjamin's dog, Runner Bean. For Charlie, life is pretty good.

Until...

One rainy night, Charlie's three great-aunts show up at his doorstep: Venitia, Lucretia, and Eustacia, along with Charlie's grandmother, Grandma Bone. Unlike Charlie's mother's mother, Grandma Maisie, Grandma Bone is very cruel, cold, and has a strong dislike when it comes to Charlie.

Charlie is related to the Yewbeams, and ancient magical family who have possessed many special abilities throughout the past: Hypnotism, Telekenisis, and Sorcery, just to name a few. Charlie has inherited one of their powers, and now, he is being shipped off to Bloor's Academy, where he will have to stay five days a week, only to come home on weekends.

And life couldn't get worse.

Or could it?

Midnight for Charlie Bone is a great read. I enjoyed reading about the school for musical geniuses, The Bloor Academy, and it is interesting that only a few of the students are "endowed" with some sort of magical powers--the rest of the students are just geniuses in the area of art or music.

Charlie Bone's family is dysunctional, yet stuck on who deserves to be endowed and who does not. They do not see their own faults, which always makes for an interesting situation.

Of course there are similarities to Harry Potter, but I was intrigued with this book for different reasons. Harry Potter is similar to many books before it too, but Potter just happened to hit the popularity jackpot.

Midnight for Charlie Bone stands out on its own, and is a very worthy read. Sometimes I think readers forget that we are all critics, but it is okay to enjoy what you are reading, even if it is a kids' book. I don't think there is an age limit for good literature, and what makes a book good is the desire for a reader to want to finish what is being read because the book presents elements of intrigue that keep that book in your hands up until completion.

Charlie Bone has the potential to be a great series. The first in the series is excellent and the background story of "The Children of The Red King" can add more surprises as the series continues.

The coolest part is that all "endowed" children have powers, but they aren't taught spells and the like, they just have to discover what their powers are. The vast array of already presented characters and their very different powers sets this book apart from the Potter series and in my next review I will not even mention Mr. Potter.

This is a wonderful book.

Midnight For Charlie Bone is full of fantasy and wonder! Charlie Bone finds out he can hear people talking in photographs. Turns out, to his disappointment, he has to go to special boarding school for children with magical talent. Charlie Bone is left with a strange briefcase from a bookshop that won't open. Will he ever find out what is in the case?
I love this book because you can never tell what's going to happen next. I think Jenny Nimmo did a great job writing this book. If you're curious and want to know what happens next, read it and you will find yourself in an adventure just like I did!

Midnight for Charlie Bone by io, February 16, 2005A Kid's ReviewMidnight for Charlie Bone By Jenny NimmoIn the book Midnight for Charlie Bone, the main character faces many adventures. Charlie Bone is endowed [has a power] he can hear voices in photographs. Charlie Bone lives with his aunts the Yewbeams. Charlie's aunts make him go to Bloors Academy, it is a school for endowed children. The problem of the story is that and his friends go into a ruin to find a golden medal. There Charlie Bone gets lost but, he's not alone because there's someone inside with him. This is a must read book. I would rate this book four out of five because the people who hate Charlie Bone in the story are not that interesting and exciting.

I think that you should read" Midnight for Charlie Bone" by Jenny Nimo. Charlie Bone is a boy with special powers to see into pictures and hear what happened when the picture was taken. When his aunts find out about his powers they send him off to Bloors, a school where talented (and I mean any talent) children go to school. Bloors is never a safe school. There is also an emotionless girl, that Charlie helps get back to normal. "Midnight for Charlie Bone" is very suspenseful and funny. "Midnight for Charlie Bone" is an excellent book. Like Harry potter both main characters have special powers. When I read Charlie Bone I feel brave. I recommend Midnight for Charlie Bone to everyone.

This book was so fantastic. filled with mystery, suspense, excitemnet, everything!!!!!
it is about Charlie Bone, a boy who is endowed with the gift of hearing the voices in photographs. then he is sent to Bloors academy, a school for children talented in art, drama, music, or endowments. there, most pecuilar things happen, such as a girl who is hyptnotised, and sort of a zombie. great things will happen as well as some terryfying one.
i really love charlie bone, uncle paton, benjamin, fidlio, gabriel! they are so cool! i am glad i picked this book up. i am am awaiting the third one!
(I HAVE ALREADY READ THE SECOND)!

This is the debut novel in the Charlie Bone series, and is a very engaging and enjoyable book. The characters are vividly drawn, almost cartoonish in their simplicity, and are an entertaining mix of good/evil. The characters in this book seem to have been inspired by mixing J.K. Rowling with Roald Dahl!

The story itself zips right along, and should keep most readers riveted. The one problem I have with the writing is that the narrative leaps from event to event, and I sometimes had to turn back to see if I missed a page or two.

I will be purchasing more in the series, and do hope to read this to my class of 2nd graders this year.

Lotsa kids who liked Harry Potter were reading these, so I tried #1. It was all right--the perspective changed here and there and the characters were kind of one-dimensional, and the plot seemed a little hokey, but it was still entertaining and the abilities of the unusual characters were not the same things you see every day in some cases.

Charlie Bone is an interesting and VERY good book. It is about a normal boy who figures out he can use magic, and so he is sent to Bloor's Academy, a school for kids with magical talents. At the school he saves a girl who had been hypnotized her whole life, having many adventures along the way. I liked this book because it has many details, some scary parts, and LOTS of adventurous parts. I think this book is for 7-13-year-old kids.

This book is about a seemingly normal boy, Charlie Bone, Who discovers he is one of the endowed children of the Red King. Charlie is able to hear what people in photographs/portraits are thinking or saying. When his evil Yewbeam aunts find out about this he is sent to Bloor's Academy, which is a boarding School for who are endowed or excell at the arts. Soon after starting school Charlie and his new friends must rescue a girl who has been hypnotised since she was a baby.

This book was similiar to Harry Potter in many ways , but there were some different things.

1. People are more unique and have different powers.

2. Charlie relies More on his friends and family than Harry ever does.

3. These books are for a younger audience and are a lot lighter

I recomend Charlie Bone to anyone who likes Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, or Pendragon.

I put off reading this book for nearly two years, seeing how obvious the parallels were between this and Harry Potter. When I finally decided to read it, I polished it off in one evening (granted, it's a quick read), and, while there were weaknesses, I kept in mind that this was aimed at a younger audience than the Potter books and was truly touched. The characters are much more well drawn out here than in Shadowmancer (the success of which still boggles my mind), and I care about them. Also, Potter resemblances aside (a dog named Pettigrew?? amongst others) the story is rather inventive and unique. I'm anxious to read the next two.

I feel sorry for any juvenile author today. They are always compared to J.K. Rowling, and of course, they don't quite measure up. I believe some of the comparisons are not quite fair since they are compared to the Rowling of today rather than the Rowling in the beginning of her series. Now, having said that, I was one of the guilty people who looked for similarities in Charlie Bone, and of course found them. Since they have already been listed in previous reviews, I won't go over them here.

When I started reading, the first thing I thought of was Roald Dahl's Charlie. There was the fatherless Charlie Bone living with his overworked mother and grandparents . . . well grandmothers, and his odd uncle. But there the similarities end. When he turns 10, everything changes. He develops his special power and is promptly sent to a special school. While there, he meets the bad guys and learns, through his special gift, the secret the bad guys are harboring. He has a list of equally quirky friends with their own gifts who help Charlie ride to the rescue.

I think this is a good start to a very interesting series. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, and I would recommend this to kids who like action stories with a little magic thrown in.

I remember reading these books every day in grade 5. I found them so interesting. It's almost like a Harry Potter book. As I read these books I felt like I was actually there with him on his adventures. I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Harry Potter. Even as an adult it can spark your imagination. There are a lot books I like but to this day this is high on my list.

Midnight for Charlie Bone is a delightful tale of a young boy who's father is supposebly dead. Because of his Fathers side being tide in with a very important group of people, Charlie is told he must go to a private academy when Charlie arrives he makes all sorts of friends and enemies . Charlie also learns the truth about his father. And how they are tied with the deep mysterious Red king. Charlie has a sort of magical power, he can read paintings or pictures(portraits). when attempting to give his friend Benjamin a good birthday card with a picture of his dog on it o big problem occurs. The picture was switched and Charlie has a picture of a man and a baby. Charlie visits the owner to find out about it and give it back there he finds out the man in the photo has swapped that baby his own for a treasure after his beloved wife passes away. Now the child is at the academy Charlie will be attending and he's on a missin to find out who it is. For the childs only realtive wishes to get her back.But when visiting the relative he is given a mysterious case that will help find out the child's name. Too bad its locked and many people are looking for it. Charlie must keep it hidden and find a way to get it open.

Midnight for Charlie Bone is a facinating book that takes you on a magical journey through whats going on in it. Charlie and his friends must find out why Dr. Tolly sold his daughter and how to wake her from Manfred's deadly stare. Charlie is going to have to find a lot of clues to this mystery.

Charlie Bone finds his endowment which something very peculier and strange. Charlie 's aunts,the Yewbeam's are happy Charlie is endowed but charlie isn't. The Yewbeams are sending Charlie to Bloor's academy for the endowed. While at Bloor's he discovers the secrets that lie there.

Curtis Jackson

Midnight for Charlie Bone is a facinating book that takes you on a magical journey through whats going on in it. Charlie and his friends must find out why Dr. Tolly sold his daughter and how to wake her from Manfred's deadly stare. Charlie is going to have to find a lot of clues to this mystery.

Charlie Bone finds his endowment which something very peculier and strange. Charlie 's aunts,the Yewbeam's are happy Charlie is endowed but charlie isn't. The Yewbeams are sending Charlie to Bloor's academy for the endowed. While at Bloor's he discovers the secrets that lie there.

Curtis Jackson

The Children of the Red King series was delightful surprise, being a dead fast Harry Potter fan and fanatic I expected to really dislike this series that many have dubbed as copycat but this is truly an addicting series that has me counting down to it's conclusion. The world Nimmo creates is original but does relay on common genre devices that some seem like Harry Potter details but are really common in the world of fantasy and science fiction. For children or anyone bored between Harry Potter books these are really excellent books with great story lines and good characterization. I highly recommend this series.

Most of the reviews on this site hinted that Midnight For Charlie Bone was just like Harry Potter. The truth is, Midnight For Charlie Bone has almost nothing in common with Harry Potter. Granted, he does go to a strange school, but even Bloor's Academy (Charlie's school) was totally different than Hogwarts. The characters and plotline are totally different. Oh, and JK Rowling did not make up the word PREFECTS. Look it up in a dictionary!
But which one would I prefer over the other?
Charlie Bone, without a doubt. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the Harry Potter books. I used to be crazy about them. But after a few years, the books have seemed to lose their appeal to me.
Midnight For Charlie Bone is a lot more lighthearted and fresh. For me, Harry Potter seems a bit too serious, even when they were joking in the books. Charlie Bone has a more appealing atmosphere to me that makes me want to read it again and again.
One of the things that I like about this book is that it's different than what you would normally read. Jenny Nimmo really wrote the book in a different perspective, which is something I really like.
Some people might say that she doesn't describe things enough, which I think is a bit unfair to her. I think that she wrote it that way in order for her to move on to other things quickly, without have to draw out and overexpose things (which I often found JK Rowling doing in her books).
What I also like is how flexible the storyline is in Midnight For Charlie Bone. In Harry Potter, since Harry was boarded up at Hogwarts for the whole year, the school was nearly always the setting for the stories. In Charlie Bone, since Charlie can come home on the weekends, we find the main character in a variety of places, which I never get tired of.
So, overall, Charlie Bone is a very exciting and mysterious book. Now, this book may not be for everyone, but what book is? For those of you who want to read something different and intriguing, than be sure to check out Midnight For Charlie Bone!

We all have hidden talents. Charlie bone has a very special one, he can hear voices in photographs. The first picture he hears from is a family about to give their baby away. This book is very good reading and is a easy book to read. It's a book that you should get into very fast.

Charlie bone is in a family of special people who live in a little town. Charlie lost his father when he was two when he ran off the road into a quarry. Since his grandma bone finds out that he has a talent, that he is one of the endowed she calls her three sisters over. When the three sisters come over they are going to test him. They slide a photo over to him and when he looks at it he starts hearing music instruments. Then they knew that he was endowed and they want to send him to bloor's academy the school for people like him.

And Charlie is forced to go there because the sisters pay for all of there needs house, bills, etc. But he doesn't want to go there till he learns about the lost baby that was in the picture is at the academy from a weird man that has three cats red, orange, and yellow all bright and fiery. Then he goes to a miss Ingledew to give her the picture and tell her that her long lost niece is at Bloor's academy. She gives him a weird case and a robot dog. He got the dog because for bringing the picture to her and the case because she has no use for it. When she gave him the dog he remembered that he needed a birthday present for Benjamin.

I think this book shows that sometimes your hidden talents will help somebody when they are in trouble. Just like Charlie does in this book and he becomes a hero for that. And you should always be helpful to others if they need help. I think Charlie would be a good role model because he is a good friend, a nice and kind person and he wants to help a person find her long lost niece.

In the end I think that this book is a good book for any grade level. It is an easy read and you could read it fast if you get into it so you could continue on with the series. The author Jenny Nimmo is a great writer and I think I will continue on with the series and she what else Charlie bone goes through.

Great and original fun. While it has some similarities to the Harry Potter series, in many ways it is more original. I am 48 years old and the last few years I have read a few of the fantasy series for older children and I find that they are producing better, more interesting, more original, and certainly funner reads than those penned for adults. I look forward to the future work of this talented writer.

I think the book is great especially because of the sense of adventure she puts in this one and the rest of the series (I've read them all).
I believe in my motto which is "If there's adventure then there's a book", and let me tell you there sure is adventure in those books.
I think that the book is awsome especially the way she keeps changing from one person's part to another. It makes you fell that you half to keep reading so you can get back to your favorite person.
I thought the books were so good I decided to read them all again which is what I am doing this weekend.
I relly hope she comes out with a fourth one because I need to know what else is going to happen in his life.
I thought the third was pretty good with Emma finding out about her brother.
If I could choose any author to spend a day with it wold have to be Jenny.
Like I said before, my motto is "If there's Adventure there's a book."

I practically read books to children for a living, so finding a new one that I can enjoy is exciting. This story of Charlie Bone and his odd relatives was fun and for the most part original. The one thing that I take issue with is the sprinkling of Harry Potter names and situations that were honestly unnecessary. I was interested in Charlie and his buddies, but seeing references to a "red haired, weasely boy" and seeing "Pettigrew" snuck in on a minor character's name made me cringe. I wanted to call the author and tell her that she can do this on her own.... leave Harry out of it!!! She shows too much promise with her own take on a boarding school containing children with magic powers.... um, well she DOES make most of it interesting and different, believe it or not. Let's just say that I liked it enough to let my son read it and consider buying the next one for him and my class. I just hope she can leave Hogwarts out of it from now on, but with the time turning theme set up for the next book, I have some doubts. Regardless, it's a fun read for the family. Give it a shot.

Midnight for Charlie Bone is about a seemly ordinary boy, until one day he finds out that he is one of the endowed, meaning he has unique magical powers. The endowed are descendants from the great Red King, and all have different powers. Charlie can hear voices in photographs, while some of his friends at the school for the endowed, Bloor's Academy, can feel emotions through pieces of clothing, talk to and understand animals, and even hypnotize others. Yes, there are some aspects of this book that resemble Harry Potter (three main characters; two boys and a girl, an ancient school, humans that can turn into animals, and some others), there are also unique parts of this series (such as Uncle Paton, who can make lights brighter, students in the school who are not magical but who have great talents, and more). I suggest reading this is you've already read Harry Potter, or if you're just looking for a good read!

I read this book because one of my friends reccommended it to me. If you like Harry Potter, then you will LOVE this book. This AWSOME novel starts out with Charlie living a normal life. One day he looks at a photo and hears voices. His Grandma Bone decides to send him to Bloors Academy. There he finds out awful secrets. THIS BOOK KEPT ME READING AND ON THE EDGE OF MY CHAIR. READ IT!

The many people that have read Midnight for Charlie Bone and the Harry Potter books immediately find that Charlie Bone is a lot similar to Harry Potter. They both go to a weird school, there's magic and interesting characters in each book, they probably wear similar clothes, too!
Which one do I find better, though? Charlie Bone, of course. I was completely obsessed with Harry Potter for a long while, but it soon got old. When I found the Charlie Bone books, I probably had the best time reading them! Harry Potter was great, but it's very hard for me to understand ALL the action. Also, I search for people who have read Midnight for Charlie Bone (and Charlie Bone and the Time Twister). The people I know who have read it or are currently reading it are completely absorbed or obsessed with it! I'm crazy about the books, too. The Charlie Bone books are about one of the only books I really understand when someone's talking about it. So, I highly recommend this book over summer or something, because I know most people'll be bored!

Midnight for Charlie Bone

By: Jenny Nimmo

Reviewed by: M. Baik

P.2

In Midnight for Charlie Bone lots of mysterious things happen. A boy named Charlie awakes one day and he starts hearing voices. He sees that no one is around him, but as he gazed into a picture, he heard what they were saying and he freaked out. His grandma Bone was delighted to see that her grandchild was a gifted child of the Red King and sent him to Bloor's Academy for gifted children during the summer. As Charlie attends Bloor's, he finds out that there are other gifted children like him, but they all have different gifts. He finds out the origin of the gifts, and also gets to know the bad guys with gifts, and the good guys with the gifts.

I liked and disliked this book. I liked it because of all the mysterious adventures and characters that just pop out of no where. I just love the way Jenny Nimmo uses her words. Like very good books I've read, Jenny Nimmo's books make a great movie in my head. I can imagine the shady alley way and 3 flaming red cats just prancing about. I also imagined what Grandma Bone looked like and she looks like an old witch. I disliked the part when Charlie always got into trouble and Grandma Bone always picked on him. I also disliked the part when his great aunts came over and planned on making Charlie's life horrible.

My favorite part in the book was when Uncle Paton met Charlie outdoors and Paton told him that he was going to take Miss Inglewood out to dinner. It was a surprise to me because he just a quiet, pale, and grumpy man. I also liked the part when Paton and Inglewood were at the restaurant, when suddenly a light bulb popped and the rest of lights in the restaurant started to pop. The funny part was that Paton's gift from the Red King was that he could pop light bulbs and lamps, but people would know that it was him, but when light bulbs started popping in the restaurant, he started saying, "Sorry!" all the way around and just ran out of the restaurant. There is a lot more to this book than meets the eyes, and I recommend anyone to read this book.