Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy: Children of the Red King Book Three Audio
Fiction
For ages 9 to 12
Unabridged audiobook (CD)
Performed/read by: Simon Russell Beale
Listening Library, 2005 ISBN: 978-0307245670
One weekend Charlie is far from pleased when Grandma Bone brings home a girl who will soon be attending Bloor’s Academy. The girl, Belle, gives Charlie the creeps. For one thing her eyes keep changing color. For another she is uncommonly pretty. She is also somehow very unsettling. There is something about Belle which just doesn’t feel right.
The fact that Uncle Paton went off somewhere just before Belle arrived because he feels he has to “put a stop to things” and because if he doesn’t “someone dangerous will arrive” doesn’t make Charlie feel any better about the situation.
When Charlie gets to school on Monday however, he finds out that his problems are nothing compared to those of a boy called Ollie Sparks. Ollie used to be a student at Bloor’s Academy but he suddenly disappeared. Now his older brother is at the school posing as an art teacher and calling himself Mr. Boldova. Mr. Boldova is trying to find out what happened to Ollie. Charlie and his friends discover that Ollie Sparks never left Bloor’s Academy at all. Instead Ezekiel Bloor used a magic snake to make the poor boy invisible. Ollie is living in the attics, a virtual prisoner who lives on strawberry jam and who dreams of the day when he will be able to go back to living with his family again.
Charlie and his friends are determined to do what they can to help get Ollie out of his dire predicament but they have the Bloors, the Yewbeams, and Belle standing in their way. Will Charlie find a way around these dangerous foes and will the good children of the Red King be able to prevail once more?
In this third title in the Charlie Bone series, Jenny Nimmo once again weaves together a plot which will have her readers riveted to their seats. Magic and sorcery; close friendship and a need for revenge; good humor and hatred. You will find them all, and much more, in this tale. Prepare yourself for a grand adventure and for another chapter in Charlie Bone’s splendid journey of discovery.
Simon Russell Beale narrates this audiobook with obvious enthusiasm, putting his acting experience to great use and injecting the characters with an almost three dimensional lifelike quality.
