Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: I used to be a harry potter freak and i have read each of the books at least eight times. Since the last one came out, i haven't liked them as much, but i just wanted to say that this book is not a take off of harry potter. Some book reviews i read say that this book is exactly like harry potter and basicly stinks. About the most similar thing to the hp books is that there is magic. This was probably the best book i have ever read. i literaly could not put this book down and i strongly reccomend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Harry Potter Rip-Off Seemingly Written By Grade-Schoole
Review: I rarely have such poor things to say about a book, especially a children's book, but I must make an exception in this case. Do not invest your time and energy in this book. I've read the entire Harry Potter series twice with my eight year-old and the first book in the Charlie Bone series does not hold a candle to it. The character development is almost non-existent, giving the reader little concern as to whether the characters live or die. The writing style seems to be that of a young child, without a sense of rhythm or pace. I am perplexed as to how anybody could find this book worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: Midnight for Charlie Bone
Review: I love Harry Potter and am anxiously awaiting the next book. This gives me something and I thought it was a good book. it definitely is not as advanced reading. I would say that a 10 year old would probably be able to read this. I cant wait to get the next book in this series. How many are there???...
Rating: 
Summary: solidly interesting but not particularly compelling
Review: Any book nowadays that has its main character be a young boy who suddenly discovers he has magical talent is, fair or not, going to be compared to the Harry Potter series. Add in a school for geniuses and those "endowed" with magical talents, a small cadre of mixed (talented and not-talented) friends to aid the main character, suspicious professors, and a missing presumed dead father and you're almost asking for it. It might not be right, but at least so many people have read Harry Potter that it gives us all a solid baseline standard. So let's get to the inevitable, fair or not--how does Charlie Bone stack up against Harry Potter? The answer has to be not very well, mostly due to the writing rather than the storyline itself--it simply lack the richness of detail, of character, of atmosphere that permeated the Potter books.
The idea of the endowed is interesting enough, and one of the nice touches of originality are some of the talents themselves--which are a bit odd and sometimes even seemingly useless or trivial. Charlie's talent, for instance, is to hear voices from the photographs he looks at; another character can make lights explode. These are more quirky than one might expect, and while some others are more run-of-the-mill (the ability to call the winds or to hypnotize), the quirkiness and "smallness" of some of these is what lends some charm to the book and its larger premise. It's nice to see characters have to work around limitations rather than being able to simply research a specific spell or potion to solve almost any problem.
The background story also adds some interest beyond the ordinary. It seems the endowed are the descendants of the "Red King", who disappeared almost a millenium ago. His children have been at war over the generations, with the added complexity that sometimes the "bad" children gave birth to some "good" ones and vice versa. It's a bit sketchy, but laid out in sufficient detail for this book; clearly there will be more information to come in the sequels.
Charlie's family also has potential. A mix of talented and untalented and seemingly a mix too of the opposing sides, the conflict lying under the surface and ocassionally rising to the top keeps a nice bit of confused tension around the reader. The aunts and grandmother have a little of Roald Dahl in them, the major problem (here and in the book as a whole) is that they are not developed enough. His uncle, the one talented member of his family on his side, is better developed but still not fully so. The mother, a character that could have added some tonal depth, is almost a complete throwaway character who might not even exist for her place here. And except for his best friend, Charlie's school friends also suffer from a lack of depth or personality.
As mentioned, lack of development is what keeps this an average book rather than allowing it to blossom into a good book. One almost senses that in writing for young adults, the author decided to strip out the "dull" stuff, which of course just bleeds the work of most of its interest. The setting are mostly perfunctory--there's no real sense of place or tone or atmosphere anywhere in the book, whether it be Charlie's home or the school or even the spooky old castle ruins which just cry out for some detailed description. The characters too suffer from some pallidness, including Charlie. We don't see enough of the talents in use nor do we have any sense at all of their place in the larger society or what the "good" and "bad" sides of the Red King Children's war really means. The pace drags a bit here and there and the whole book probably could have done with some cutting of plotline and replacing of some predictable or repetitive story actions with some fuller characterization or description.
In the end, this is a solid book that mostly keeps the reader's attention but doesn't really compel them to keep reading, either due to the gripping storyline or the interesting characters. There is clearly some potential here, however, and I'd give the author's second book a try to see if she makes good on that promise with some fuller detail and better characterization. Though I probaby would only give her a few chapters into that second book before making my decision. This isn't a bad story, but it isn't quite yet a good one.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put down!
Review: I loved this book! I haven't really read all of the Harry Potter books but Midnight for Charlie Bone has the same kind of plot. Its not just like Harry Potter but it is the same genre. To tell you the truth I loved this book more than some of the Harry Potter books. It is hard for me to get into a book and I tend to never finish the book, but when I read Midnight for Charlie Bone I couldn't put it down. The pages don't have those itty-bitty fonts and the words all squished together so it was easy to follow along. I was thrilled to hear their would be a second book come out and can't wait to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Way better than Potter
Review: I really don't understand all the hype about Harry Potter. This is WAY better. It has a good plot, gives you everything you could need to know and has great characters. Paton is probably the best.
Rating:
Summary: Decent Read
Review: I picked this book up at a book fair for my cousin's birthday and read it the following day at a bookstore. It's a decent book, good for those in the grades 4-6, but some of the plot progression is flawed, and the second book in the series also suffers from the same flaws. Charlie Bone isn't as strong as Harry Potter, or as important to the franchise. Instead Nimmo relies more on Charlie's friends and relatives more than she actually relies on him. He's likeable enough, and has interesting abilities. For those who say the book is a ripoff of Harry Potter, Nimmo does create a character that is very similar to J.K. Rowling's main character, but dissimilar in other ways. He's not as strong or as intelligent, and while HP relies on a fair amount of luck, Bone relies on his friends. His friends pull him out of danger, and the characters are more interesting than Harry Potter, because they aren't just "evil" or "good," they have more human desires that lead them to do things. In HP, all of the people in his house are generally Good. There's no thought that they're going to betray him. But betrayals do happen at Bloors. To those who say Charlie Bone is a ripoff, let's address your qualms. The idea of magic is not unique, others have used it before HP.
The idea of a boarding school of magic users, also not unique to HP.
The idea that Charlie Bone is very similar to Harry Potter.
I run across this quite often. I suggest you go read Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman. Timothy Hunter, who Harry Potter is patterned off of, at least physically, is the main character of those graphic novels. People, you are the pot. Stop calling the kettle black. JK Rowling borrows from Gaiman, Nimmo borrows from Rowling...the circle continues. In the end, children's literature can only win out. At least it gives me something to read in between the long layovers between Harry Potter books!
Rating: 
Summary: um......
Review: this book, sorry to all those who adore it (for whatever reason) is SO MUCH like harry potter. for instance, charlie bone never knew he had secret powers, but one day he finds that he does......sound familiar. and then he gets enrolled in the whole bloors academy for the gifted and blablabla, much like hogwarts....theres even the sleazy bully character likie malfoy. and while were on the subject, dont u think his uncle is kind of like sirius black?? well, as u might have guessed, this book is NOT one of my favs. i do not reccomend it. at all.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but had some problems
Review: Jenny Nimmo seemed to have tried to copy Harry Potter. She tried to make it not completely like HP, by changing it so they could "go home on weekends", though that wasn't the worst part. She is very good at describing things and she explains things well, but she does have a few plot problems. Her characters all seemed to be flat, and she didn't develop them well.They did not react like a normal person would to the situation. The plot idea, besides the HP part, was very good, and very mysterious, leaving you hanging, but the characters needed some work.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in a long time!
Review: This book is about a boy, Charlie Bone, who posesses a magical gift. Although he doesn't know it, many other children also have these strange powers. When Charlie's aunts realize that he is endowed (meaning that he aquired a gift that one of his ancestors had) they sent him off to a school for geniuses. Once there, Charlie gets wrapped up in an amazing mystery. I first purchased this book at my school book fair last year. I immediately started to read the book and fell in love with it. I also love the Harry Potter books, and I think anyone who is a fan of Harry Potter will enjoy this book also. Even if you are not too crazy about Harry Potter, I think you should give this book a try anyways. This is a book anyone could fall in love with. After you read this book, don't forget to read Charlie Bone and the Time Twister!
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