I’m so happy to have emerged from my deadline den and be able to share today’s spotlight with you all! It’s been a bit since I got to post, but Saturday I sent my middle grade urban fantasy back to my agent, which is always a great relief. And I hope you’ll forgive me for saying this but–I LOVE my book! The easiest way to pitch it is if Voldemort had great grandkids, the Raven twins, who were raised in the non-magic world and discover on their thirteenth birthday that their family has magic and they’re the bad guys when their mom offers herself–and their birthday cake–to a demon in a sacrifice, and their dad is picked up by the magic police who blame him because duh, Voldemort’s descendant. And so of course it’s up to the Raven twins to figure out what happened and save their parents, and maybe overturn people’s perceptions of their family along they way. Only, my kids’ evil ancestor wasn’t Voldemort and and it all takes plane in NC and so on, but you get the gist.

Did I mention that I LOVE my book? Okay, sorry, done now. Just keep your fingers crossed that we get to take it on submission soon, and the publishers love it too, okay? 😀

Speaking of loving things in a week of love I, well, I LOVE today’s spotlight, too! Inkling is a wonderful book that packs a lot of punch for its relatively slim size!

It’s told mostly from Ethan’s pov, and begins with his dealing with a spot of school trouble because he’s allowed himself to be roped into doing the art for his group’s graphic novel simply because his dad is an amazing and famous comic book artist, and Ethan doesn’t want to admit he’s not like his dad and can’t draw anything more complex than a stick figure.

From this sympathetic beginning the story grows and we quickly meet Inkling, who is an ink-blot creation who has magically emerged from Ethan’s father’s sketch book. That sounds a little far-fetched, but his dad is seriously blocked–stuck two years–and there’s a cat and it’s night time and…somehow it all works.

The same could be said of the rest the book, because it seems like it shouldn’t be able to deal with so many tough issues while remaining light-hearted, but it does! The way it came sideways at these serious challenges (death of a parent, high level of responsibility for a disability sibling, financial problems, and depression in the surviving parent) makes them easier for the reader to wrap their head around and grapple with without becoming overwhelmed. There was true finesse and masterful writing in evidence, but you’d be hard pressed to notice it because it was all so very natural and organically done.

I also adored that young readers are exposed to many wonderful classic books through the way that the young growing ink spot is cared for, and the subtle lesson taught in the difference between one ink spot and another based on the quality of the literature they took in, as well as the way they were cared for. While very understated in the book, I can see this sparking great class discussions.

And the art world isn’t neglected, either! There were lots of fun illustrations throughout to keep readers moving along and add a spark of interest, and I also loved how vivid the book was in the way which art that I wasn’t shown came to life, so I could visualize it in my head. There is of course lots of talk of how one goes about learning to draw, and some truly marvelous insights into the artistic brain, as well as the care and training of an artist.

Finally I just thoroughly enjoyed the relationships in this little family and especially between Ethan and Sarah. While Ethan of course knows that Sarah has down syndrome, he always first and foremost simply thinks of her as his sweet little sister, and I really appreciated that she was never sidelined as a character, but took part in everything at an appropriate eight or nine-year-old level.

When I finished the book I flipped to the author bio, curious who this guy was, and felt super embarrassed that I hadn’t noticed before–Kenneth Oppel is also the author of the Silverwing books, which my daughter loved! So if you’re already a fan you should pick this one up, and if you haven’t heard of him you should pick it up as well. 😉

Now, let’s see what Apricot-kitty thinks:

“Can you explain to me why everyone was a good guy if they simply did what they were supposed to, but the cat doing when the cat is supposed to do made the cat a bad guy? Because I promise you, in the cat world an invading ink spot needs to be caught!”

Okay, yeah, I can see her point. But in all fairness Ethan and his family don’t think the cat is bad per se, they simply won’t let it torture Inkling! So, more of a separation of the opposing pets. Or, persons. Rather like…well, that would be a spoiler. 🙂

I hope you have something fun planned for your Valentine week, even if it’s just a little extra self care and time with books. For the full Marvelous Middle Grade Monday round up of giveaways, interviews, spotlights and reviews, stop by Greg Pattridge’s blog, and happy reading!

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