Inkling, Kenneth Oppel
Inkling, Kenneth Oppel
List: $18.00 | Sale: $12.60
Club: $9.00

Inkling

Author: Kenneth Oppel

Narrator: Robbie Daymond

Unabridged: 6 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/06/2018


Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of The Nest, The Boundless, and Airborn comes a brilliantly funny, breakout book about a boy who discovers an ink blot that's come to life! Perfect for those who love Hoot and Frindle and sure to be a hit with kids everywhere!

The Rylance family is stuck. Dad's got writer's block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school--even though he can't draw. Sarah's still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom. So much more than they can say.

Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance's sketchbook. But one night the ink of his drawings runs together--and then leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything.

Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple chapters of his math book--not good--and the story he's supposed to be illustrating for school--also not good. But Inkling's also started drawing the pictures to go with the story--which is amazing! It's just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too--for Sarah he's a puppy. And for Dad he's a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It's exactly what they all want.

It's not until Inkling goes missing that this family has to face the larger questions of what they--and Inkling--truly need.

Kenneth Oppel has given us a small masterpiece of middle-grade fiction. Inkling is funny and fizzy and exciting, and brimming with the kind of interesting ideas and dilemmas that kids will love to wrestle with. Get ready. A little ink blot is about to become your new favorite character!

About The Author

KENNETH OPPEL is one of the most highly regarded authors of middle-grade fiction writing today. Among his books is the 2015 middle-grade novel The Nest, which received six starred reviews, was the Canadian Library Association's 2016 Book of the Year, a New York Times Editors' Choice, and was included on several notable "Best of 2015" lists, as well as Airborn, a 2005 Printz Honor Book. Find him online at www.kennethoppel.ca and @KennethOppel.SYDNEY SMITH is the illustrator of many award-winning picture books, including Smoot, A Rebellious Shadow by Michelle Cuevas, Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, and Town is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, for which he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal. Sydney lives with his family in Toronto, Canada. You can find him on Twitter @Sydneydraws.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer on June 14, 2019

3.5 stars, rounded up. I enjoyed Inkling for many of the same reasons I enjoy Pixar films: its creativity, abundant Easter eggs for adults (an inkblot that adopts Hemingway's prose style? yes please!), refusal to take the easy way out, and earnest emotional center. But unlike Pixar, which has genuin......more

Goodreads review by Melissa on April 23, 2019

This was pure delight. It reminded me strongly of Diana Wynne Jones's The Ogre Downstairs because of how the children and the adults ended up aware of Inkling and how the magic of Inkling's existence worked. It's common for middle grade and YA contemporary fantasies to follow the path of "keep it a......more

Goodreads review by Bax on December 03, 2018

"No one was awake to see it happen..." Ethan was in a big trouble. He'd been chosen to draw for his group's comic book project. While his dad was a known and talented comic book artist, Peter Rylance, Ethan couldn't draw a stick figure to save a life. One night, an ink blot magically and mysteriously......more


Quotes

Praise for INKLING!

"Astonishing."–The New York Times Book Review

"This masterful novel is funny, sad, and profound all at once. Kenneth Oppel has created many unusual protagonists during his stellar career, but his inventiveness reaches a whole new level with Inkling, an inkblot that is fully and vividly alive." —Quill and Quire, Starred

"Inkling is at turns hilarious, when he mimics the language of the books he reads, and poignant, when he wonders about his identity and purpose. The undercurrent of loss and grief, not to mention questions of agency and personhood, give the story weight, but do not weigh it down. Smith's energetic and expressive ink drawings are the perfect complement and contribute to the storytelling in playful ways. Oppel’s latest is
serious fun." —Booklist

"A unique story about the creative process and the journey through grief." —SLJ

"Sweet and funny." —Kirkus Reviews

"Inkling is so clever and intriguing that it deserves a bookshelf all to itself. Once you're done reading, you'll want to keep a very close eye on it." —Carl Hiaasen, Newbery Honor Winner for Hoot

"Inkling’s evolving abilities model a realistic creative arc—the creature mimics its most recent literary meal (“I’M UTTERLY ENRAPTURED” follows a stint with L.M. Montgomery) until it eventually discovers its own voice—even as the other characters work through grief and find their own stories."—Publishers Weekly

"An enjoyable read for budding young artists." —The Bulletin


Awards

  • Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
  • Florida Sunshine State Book Master List
  • Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award
  • Kansas William Allen White Children's Book Award
  • Maine Student Book Award
  • Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award
  • Minnesota Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award
  • New Hampshire Great Stone Face Children's Book Master List
  • New Mexico Land of Enchantment Book Award
  • Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Master List
  • Rhode Island Children's Book Master List
  • Utah Children's Book Award