What a book can do

Books, the only thing she could die for.  Meggie, a 12 year old girl, inherited her love of books from her father, Mo. She reads them every day and at night Meggie hid her favorite book under her pillow. She liked to listen how the book whispered the story to her.  One night, a shadow stood on the other side of her window, intimidating Meggie. She quickly dashed to her father and told him about the frightening figure. Suddenly, Mortimer realized that it was his friend Dustfinger.  They talked about a man named Capricorn and that he was after a very important and valuable book. While Meggie eavesdropped on them she realized for the first time that Mo was hiding something from her. Sunrise arrived,

and they got in the van, which Meggie considered home since they had always left home because of Mo’s job as a book doctor. This time, they arrived at Elinor’s house.  She has tons of books in her mansion which Meggie loved. Mo and Elinor talked about a book named Inkheart, which was really special because it was the only edition left. Mo agreed to lend it to Elinor but she has to hide it because of its value. Dustfinger was an expert at juggling with fire so he invited Meggie to a little show he prepared for her which ended at midnight. A few minutes passed by and they heard something inside the house, Meggie ran towards Mo’s room but Elinor grabbed her and prohibited her from going to his room. There were many big, muscular armed men taking Mo and the book. Meggie ran after them but it was too late. Meggie was desperate to save her father so she planned his rescue. She went to Elinor’s room and when she was about to leave the goodbye letter she saw Elinor holding the Inkheart book, the one that this bad man Capricorn was after. Meggie was shocked and thought Elinor was accomplice of Capricorn but then she realized that it doesn’t make sense. Suddenly Dustfinger appeared and told them where Capricorn was taking Mo. Meggie was determine to save her father so she took the Inkheart book to exchange it for his father.  She noticed Dustfinger was acting strange, he knew everything about Capricorn, it seemed he was working for him.

There was a quote in the book that got my attention, since I did the same when I was a child.

“Meggie had one of her favorite books under her pillow, and since the rain wouldn’t let her sleep she sat up, rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes, and took it out.” (Funke, 2)

This quote made me remember when I was little, around the age of 7. I used to sneak to the kitchen and get two apples with Nutella because my parents didn’t let me eat anything past bed time. I stayed  awake playing with my toys and stuff animals on my bed and when my parents passed by I pretended to be asleep. I waited with my green apple and my Nutella under the pillow, until all the lights were out. Finally the time had come and I got the apple and ate it with Nutella all night long, it was delicious. When I finished, I left the Nutella in the cabinets and ran back to my bed and went to sleep.

Another quote that got my attention was when Meggie was describing her appreciation towards the books and how she felt about them:

“…but there was another reason why Meggie took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange…  Her books cheered her up when she was sad…” (Funke, 16)

From the quote, I can infer that because of Mo’s job, they needed to move from house to house, so Meggie left behind her friends, memories, houses, and experiences. The only thing that Meggie took with her from place to place was her books. Maybe, that is why her books cheered her up when she is sad because it remind her to what we call “home”. I can also infer that Meggie has a great admiration for books and enjoys reading them, taking them anywhere she went.  In Meggie’s case, books became a support and her home where she could find happiness and forget about sad moments.                

From these chapters we can see how Cornelia Funke is trying to communicate to us that family is one of the most important things in life. They give you support, they always give you love, affection, and think of your best in every decisions they make. They accept you the just the way you are and they will be there whenever you need them. Family lasts forever, not for a moment and it is important to value them and support each other just the way Meggie did with her father.