interlibraryloan 's review for:

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

3.25

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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People often approach the Children of the Red King series as a Harry Potter rip-off; which, you know, fair. Nimmo was definitely trying to get in on the Rowling craze of the era. But stopping there, only reading it as a derivative work, is so disingenuous and would break ten-year-old me’s heart. And, past “magic school” and “newly discovered magic” I really don’t feel like there are as many similarities as people like to claim. I feel that magic in Nimmo’s work reads a lot better through the lens of class and the quasi-caste class system in England than the racial tones lining Rowling’s work. But that’s just me!

ANYWAY!! This book is definitely written for kids (as I said, I ate this UP at age ten) and, as many a review will point out, it reads as such. “Blah blah, simple sentences; blah blah, see-thru plot”; congratulations Einstein, you’ve deciphered children’s literature. A tiara for your lofty head will be doled out in two to three business weeks. People always attempt to read children’s literature through adult eyes rather than appreciating the fact that what it’s trying to do does not necessarily align with what we (adults) typically look for when we read. Children’s literature wants to be somewhat transparent, it want to introduce child readers to themes and archetypes (the outcast child, the big screwed-up family, the tight-knit friend group) that continue to appear in our literature as we grow up, as well as allow children their own “a-ha!” moments. I don’t know, I just wish people would take children’s literature seriously AS children’s literature, not as “literature for mini adults, what do you MEAN this author DARED to use a pared down sentence with only ONE big word!” Like…bffr. Go read Ivanhoe then, Mr Big Man on Campus. 

Don’t get me wrong: this is far from a perfect book (content-wise I think it’s pretty top-tier, but style-wise, even with it being a children’s book, it’s lacking some of the OOMPH the people want). But it also sets up the series in a way that feels really genuine and interesting (once again, as a child I read this one weekend and took home the rest of the series from the school library the next Monday) and ENGAGING!!! Like, THIS is what children’s literature is about!!! As one of the ten-year-olds I hang out with sometimes says: “frick the haters”. And if you dislike this book you’re a certified hater.