Rating: 
Summary: Wish we could give it 10 stars!
Review: I picked this up at a school book fair because it looked like something my 9 year old son would enjoy. I ended up reading it aloud to him because we didn't want to give up our turns reading the book.
Charlie Bone is a typical 10 year old boy who is happy attending school and spending time with his best friend Benjamin, until he suddenly begins to hear voices coming from photographs. The moment his evil Yewbeam relatives realize Charlie is one of the "endowed" they pack him off to Bloor's Academy, a gloomy and forbidding school for the specially gifted. Along the way Charlie stumbles onto a mystery involving a stolen baby and a very mysterious case entrusted to his care that everyone seems to be after. A wide variety of interesting people (both good and evil) enter Charlie's life as he sets out to help the lost baby. Charlie will need all his courage and the help of his friends, both old and new, to get to the bottom of the mystery. The characters in this book are memorable and wonderful. We loved our journey in to Charlie's world and are eagerly anticipating the sequel. My son can't wait to share this book with his friends!
My only criticism is that the ending feels a bit rushed and things fall in to place a little too neatly. Also, some important clues concerning Charlie's father are never addressed. This book may appear as a take off of Harry Potter but seeing my son's enjoyment convinces me that this book can stand on it's own.
Rating: 
Summary: Not just a knockoff a story all its own.
Review: I was told by the children's librarian that it was a Harry Potter Knock Off. Well not really. The school Charlie goes to isn't for Magic it's for gifted students. There are only twelve kids at the school that are special and they're all the descendents of one King. Half the descendents are evil and half are not. If you think Harry's muggle family is twisted you haven't seen anything until you've seen Charlie's aunts and grandmother (They try to kill Charlie's uncle in the second book).The short review is give these books a try, yes the first one is a little slow, but you will be pleased to learn that Nimmo thought long and hard about her story and she came up with a truly good story line that may resemble Harry Potter at first glance but truly is it's own entity and worthy of an open interested reader. For the parents out there, you may want to watch out about handing this to children under nine or ten or if they're especially sensitive to implied violence, as there isn't as much magic to soften the violence and make it unbelievable and knives and "Hit and Runs" and violence against animals do happen throughout the books.
Rating:
Summary: Is Charlie Bone, not Harry Potter
Review: When I brought this book at my school library book fair, and read the description, I thought, "Oh, is just a copy of Harry Potter." Well, since my curiosity took me, I brought it anyway. So now after lefting the book in the bookshelve for an year, I finally read the book and thought, "Hey this is nothing like Harry Potter!" This book is like, completely different from Harry Potter; although Charlie Bone did go to a different school after discovering that he can hear people's thought through pictures. In this book, Charlie goes through advantures discovering mysterious that beholds inside a inventures case, that's remain locked. Charlie and friends finds more clues while he attends to Bloors Academy for the genius'. So this book is basically a different story from any other story that I have read. I don't know know why they always put Harry Potter next to it, but it just doesn't have anything to do with Harry Potter, I mean, the whole theme is different, and Charlie is not a wizard, as far as I know. So I do recommend you guys this book. I rated this book a five star 'cause it is a good book afterall. Though I would say Harry Potter is a better series. But do read Charlie Bones advanture!
Rating:
Summary: Read it and be amazed!!!!!!!
Review: This book it full of action. Readers who enjoyed Harry Potter will be amazed by this book. It takes you deep to where Charlie Bone discovers he's endowed, or a desendent of a magical king and has inherited some of the Kings powers. He is sent, by his evil aunts, to Bloors Academy, a school for kids powereful in music, drama, or art. But, the school also takes endowed children. Soon, Charlie, and his new friends are of to solve the mysterious past of on of the endowed, Emma Tolly.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not the next Harry Potter. . .
Review: Midnight for Charlie Bone is a great read. I enjoyed reading about the school for musical geniuses, The Bloor Academy, and it is interesting that only a few of the students are "endowed" with some sort of magical powers--the rest of the students are just geniuses in the area of art or music.
Charlie Bone's family is dysunctional, yet stuck on who deserves to be endowed and who does not. They do not see their own faults, which always makes for an interesting situation.
Of course there are similarities to Harry Potter, but I was intrigued with this book for different reasons. Harry Potter is similar to many books before it too, but Potter just happened to hit the popularity jackpot.
Midnight for Charlie Bone stands out on its own, and is a very worthy read. Sometimes I think readers forget that we are all critics, but it is okay to enjoy what you are reading, even if it is a kids' book. I don't think there is an age limit for good literature, and what makes a book good is the desire for a reader to want to finish what is being read because the book presents elements of intrigue that keep that book in your hands up until completion.
Charlie Bone has the potential to be a great series. The first in the series is excellent and the background story of "The Children of The Red King" can add more surprises as the series continues.
The coolest part is that all "endowed" children have powers, but they aren't taught spells and the like, they just have to discover what their powers are. The vast array of already presented characters and their very different powers sets this book apart from the Potter series and in my next review I will not even mention Mr. Potter.
This is a wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Endowes and Roses
Review: I thought this looked like a good fantasyesque novel for kids (albeit a HP knockoff), but I was sadly mistaken. There was very little character development -- I didn't really come to care about any of the characters. In addition, there seemed to be so many strings left untied. It didn't make sense why Charlie had to go to a boarding school or how that would benefit him. I also didn't see why he was hailed as this great hero at the end because I couldn't determine anything that he had specifically done that was so great. Overall, not a great read. As a middle school Language Arts/Reading teacher, I know that there is so much amazing children/young adult literature that I certainly won't waste time reading another one of these.
Rating: 
Summary: Complete Knock Off and Waste of Time.... Skip It!
Review: For those seeking something while waiting for the next Harry Potter, BEWARE! This book is an obvious knock-off of the popular Rowling books and is so pooly written I found myself groaning during each chapter. A boy, who has lost a parent, goes to a special school because he is magically gifted where he becomes friends with another boy and girl. Sound familiar? I could have forgiven the transparency of this tale had the writing in any way made up for it. Poor description and even poorer conversational writing make this book a bore. Even its cover art is an attempt to cash in on Harry's popularity. Do yourself a favour and read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper instead of this trash.
Rating:
Summary: Book 1- Midnight
Review: This book is about a seemingly normal boy, Charlie Bone, Who discovers he is one of the endowed children of the Red King. Charlie is able to hear what people in photographs/portraits are thinking or saying. When his evil Yewbeam aunts find out about this he is sent to Bloor's Academy, which is a boarding School for who are endowed or excell at the arts. Soon after starting school Charlie and his new friends must rescue a girl who has been hypnotised since she was a baby.
This book was similiar to Harry Potter in many ways , but there were some different things.
1. People are more unique and have different powers.
2. Charlie relies More on his friends and family than Harry ever does.
3. These books are for a younger audience and are a lot lighter
I recomend Charlie Bone to anyone who likes Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, or Pendragon.
Rating:
Summary: Love It!!
Review: After the discovery of magical powers, Charlie Bone is forced to go to a special school that mingles artistically gifted children with the magically endowed. The appeal of the novel is not only in the mystery Charlie discovers along with his power, but in the new situation he finds himself in. Unfortunately, the Bloor Academy doesn't offer much of a sense of wonder. We're given to understand that Bone and the other magical children are being taught to use their gifts, but that side of the story is given short shrift. The teachers we see may be peculiar, but their subjects are very ordinary. And given the rather hostile atmosphere of the school, it's hard to imagine why parents would force their children to attend. Charlie may have to be there, but surely not all of his classmates do. There must be other good art teachers. Somewhere.
If the story falls short on wonder, it does provide a reasonably sympathetic protagonist and a reasonably compelling mystery. The outcome may be telegraphed to adults, but it will be less clear for younger readers unused to the conventions of fiction. Older readers--even children--may find a lot to question about the motivations of the novel's adults. Do the villains have any goal other than a desire to be bad? Do Benjamin's parents have any kind of valid excuse for their horrible negligence of their son? But young children are used to adults doing inexplicable things. Like Charlie, they may be content just to confront the way things are without questioning what makes them that way.
Most children are fascinated by the idea of suddenly discovering they are something other than what they've been told--something special or magical. This book allows them to vicariously experience that and also to root for a little boy who is brave within reason and wise enough to call for adult help when he's over his head. (In this case, in the form of Uncle Paton.) Charlie is loyal and responsible. The story is entertaining and (for almost everyone) inoffensive. This may make a good stepping stone for those children who are too old for the Magic Tree House and too young for Harry Potter. I wish it had something more substantial, like those series, to offer them. But maybe that's coming in future books.
Rating:
Summary: BORING
Review: I have read many of my kids books with them, this series is awful. The writer seems to have absolutely no idea of where to take the story from one paragraph to the next, she blathers around, occasionally adding some to mystery, but providing no clues. There is really not much to attach to or get involved with. The characters never take shape except to be called "odd" or "strange" or "a big girl". These books are obvious derivitives of Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket, without the writing ability of a dimestore hack. The author should abandon this series and go back to writing recipes for fast food restaurants.
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