Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Charlie Bone and the Beast: Children of the Red King Book Six
Fiction Series
For ages 9 to 12
Scholastic, 2006 ISBN: 978-0439846653
Charlie Bone can still hardly believe that his father is well and truly back after being missing for so many years. Of course at the moment his parents are away, having a little vacation together on their own. Charlie understands that they need to get to know one another again so he doesn't mind too much. It is not as if he?s bored or anything after all. Strange things are going on in town again, and at Bloor's Academy as well.
Lately the people in the town have been hearing an eerie howling echoing down the streets at night and strange beasts have been sighted several times. As if this is not peculiar enough, a new student has come to Bloor's Academy whose endowment is being able to drown people. Dagbert Endless is a most unnerving boy and he seems determined to upset Charlie's friends as much as possible and thus isolate Charlie. Luckily Charlie's friends don't fall for this tactic for long.
Charlie figures out that the howling beast is none other than Asa, one of the endowed children who used to be a student at Bloor's Academy. He discovers from Asa's mother that Asa is being kept captive in a dark place somewhere by none other than Manfred Bloor. Apparently Asa is being punished for helping Charlie free his father from Manfred's hypnotic captivity. Feeling some responsibility for Asa, Charlie decides that he has to do something to help the poor beast boy. The problem is that he has to deal not only with Manfred and the usual unsavory lot at Bloor's Academy, but he also has Dagbert Endless and other new powers to contend with. Can Charlie rescue Asa without being drowned or crushed by some terrible stone monster? Will the Red King come to his aid this time too?
This sixth book in the Charlie Bone series will certainly have readers sitting on the edge of their seats as they follow the adventures of Charlie and his friends once more. Not only will readers meet up with old friends from the previous books, but they also become acquainted with some new and highly colorful characters. Certainly Dagbert Endless will chill the blood of even the most detached reader. And then there is the little boy who can make stone come alive. Dear me, just imagine what that child could do with that endowment? The mind boggles just thinking about it!
Once again Jenny Nimmo takes her readers on a splendid journey into a magical world where anything is possible, and where secrets about the past are brought to light in a remarkable and often spectacular way.
