This is the first in a trilogy of books by Cornelia Funke. The books have been translated from their native German.

This is about a father, named Mo, who enjoys reading aloud stories to his daughter, Meggie, but finds out that every time he reads, he quite literally brings the story to life. This becomes dangerous when Mo reads a villain into existence, and he and another literary creation named Dustfinger must keep Meggie safe from harm's way.

While the premise for this book is fantastic, and the characters are very likeable and unique -- Dustfinger is probably one of my favourite characters from a young adult novel -- I find that it's a bit of a slog to get through. Perhaps this is because the book has in fact been translated. I do tend to find that translated books are harder for me to get through. It may be a case of the pacing being thrown off a bit.

I do feel that this is worth a read at least once. This was also adapted into a film, oddly enough starring some of the people I pictured when reading the book (namely Paul Bettany as Dustfinger and Helen Mirren as Aunt Elinor). It's an okay film, but not great.