Inkheart is a young adult-child

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

 fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke is a multiple award-winning German author of children's fiction. She was born on 10 December 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia. Funke is best known for her Inkworld trilogy, with the English translation of the third book, Inkdeath, released on 6 October 2008. Many of her...

, and the first book of the Inkworld trilogy

Inkworld trilogy

The Inkheart trilogy is a series of three fantasy novels written by German author Cornelia Funke, comprising Inkheart , Inkspell , and Inkdeath...

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Inkheart follows the adventures of a 12-year-old girl named Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she discovers that her father, a bookbinder named Mortimer

Mortimer Folchart

Mortimer "Mo" Folchart is a fictional character in Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy. He is a bookbinder and has the ability to bring fictional characters to life in the "real world" by reading aloud from books. He has a daughter named Meggie who also has the talent to bring characters out of...

 (Mo), has an unusual ability; when he reads aloud, he can bring characters and items from books into the real world. When Meggie was three years old, Mo read a book called Inkheart aloud to her mother.