Why I Picked It Up: I was drawn to the cover initially, but then I noticed the author! Jessica and I both loved Oppel’s novel This Dark Endeavor about Victor Frankenstein before he became Dr. Frankenstein in the classic novel. It’s rare that a single book appeals to both of us, let alone multiple books by the same author, but we discovered that we both had Inkling in our “to read” stacks as well!
Why I Finished It: This was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time! It was outside of my reading comfort zone, but it was such a clever, original story that I couldn’t put it down!
Ethan’s father is an artist who draws graphic novels, but has hit a bit of writer’s block since his wife died. Ethan lives in his father’s shadow, especially as he’s in the middle of a graphic novel project at school. Everyone thinks since his dad is a great artist, he should be too. But that is not the case. So, he’s got that pressure, he’s got an absentee dad who is dealing with the loss of his wife, and he’s dealing with the loss of his mother while caring for his younger sister Sarah who has Down’s Syndrome.
Inkling is a blob of ink that drags itself from Ethan’s fathers’ sketchbook and becomes Ethan’s new best friend and the bright spot in Ethan’s life. He can transform into anything and so he helps Ethan learn to draw, he amuses Sarah as a puppy, he helps Ethan’s dad overcome writers’ block. Inkling starts to help Ethan heal and Ethan pours out his feelings, but he also helps Ethan see things from his Dad’s point of view. Since Inkling came from Dad’s sketchbook, he has a special connection with Dad’s thoughts and feelings and can see his dreams, which he draws for Ethan. There’s something Inkling is supposed to do – to help Ethan’s dad, and ultimately the family, heal. The theme of grief and loss is handled beautifully, and we see that even within one family, different people handle grief differently.
I loved the literary spice of an autonomous blob of ink that teaches itself to speak, write, and essentially create, by devouring other texts and images. I loved how the comic-like illustrations and ink splotches on the page added to the experience of reading the text. From the deep themes addressed within the book, to the incredible word-pictures that Oppel creates, to the dynamic characters that drive the plot to an exciting and satisfying end, Inkling is amazing!
Who I’d Give It To: Upper elementary or middle school students are the target audience, but I think Inkling would appeal to students into early high school as well.
Integration Ideas
Theme – Grief/Loss
- How do individuals cope with stress, hardship and/or loss?
- How do different people handle adversity?
One of the central themes in Inkling is how one family deals with the loss of their mom/wife. Inkling serves a different purpose for each character in the book as they journey through their loss. For Mr. Rylance, he helps lead him back to what’s important and overcome his writer’s block. For Ethan, he’s a patient teacher, a friend, and a non-judgmental confidant. For Sarah, he’s a joyful distraction and a loyal friend.
Mr. Rylance is first introduced as Coma Dad (pg 11). We learn more about him from his interaction with Ethan after school (pg 25-29) and then at the bottom of page 29, he states, “Sometimes people die. That’s just the way it is.” He’s referring to his comic book character, but there is definitely some foreshadowing in that moment. We don’t find out until later (pg 39) that Ethan’s mom has died, but we don’t get a whole lot of details. So, Ethan’s dad is dealing with the loss of his wife, but also the loss of his creativity and the two seem to be related (p 120).
Ethan is left to pick up the pieces for the rest of the family, particularly his little sister Sarah, who has Down’s Syndrome. While he does reminisce about his mom occasionally, he has to keep things going for her sake. Sarah’s birthday party (chapter 9) seems to be a catalyst for the explosion of his grief and feelings as he talks to Inkling in chapter 10 (page 118).
Inkling finds himself drawn to Mr. Rylance’s studio. He has a unique connection to Mr. Rylance, as he came from Mr. Rylance’s sketchbook, which is an extension of Mr. Rylance himself (p 67). Inkling has a job to do – something he has to find (p 21-22, p 53, p 161) that will help the family through this time. On page 231, that closure begins to unfold.
Description (Visualization in Reading; Show Don’t tell in Writing)
Oppel has an incredible gift for description that really helps the reader visualize what’s going on. There are some amazing descriptions in this text that could definitely serve as “show don’t tell” mentor passages.
The entire first chapter describes Inkling coming to life out of Mr. Rylance’s sketchbook with visuals like “The ink rippled, like dark water with something swimming beneath the surface,” or “[…]as if a stiff wind blew across it.” (pg 3). Since a blob of ink is a very unique character, I found myself very impressed by the way Oppel helped him come alive for the reader and gave him such life-like qualities through his choice of descriptive language.
I love this description of Ethan’s best friend, Soren: “Soren always looked startled. He hadn’t blinked since fourth grade. His older brother Barnaby had let him read too many scary comics and watch too many horror movies and now it was like Soren was afraid to blink in case something crept up on him.” (pg 14) Ethan’s other two best friends, Brady and Pino, are described on page 16.
Here’s a description of “a Sarah hug.” “It was a real embrace. There was nothing half-hearted about it. Her soft arms folded around your neck, and she pressed her cheek against yours and smushed her body against you, and you felt like you’d just won the most amazing prize. And you couldn’t help grinning.” (pg 154)
Take your favorite bit of description from the text, discuss the author’s moves with the students, and then have them emulate the moves in their own writing.
Theme – Creativity
Creativity and the place of the storytelling process in the world is another central theme of Inkling. The way Inkling interacts with books and images is a great model for us to follow. His literary diet informs what he produces. He is quickly bored with newspapers (“dull words and numbers” p 53).
- p 55 – King Kong poster and comics
- p 60 – Anne of Green Gables
- p 81 – The BFG
- p 84 – sports section
Inkling remarks, profoundly, on page 126, “The world is truly filled with wondrous stories.” His intake of all those different stories enables him to help Mr. Rylance begin a new story of his own.
Contrast the creation and evolution of Blotter (beginning on page 191) with Inkling. What purpose does Blotter serve in the story? I personally like the idea that he represents distorted, or misguided, creativity – he came from Inkling and is a part of Inkling still, but being fed differently and used for a different purpose, Blotter is a completely different being.
Page 22 describes how Inkling takes a story and begins to generate illustrations – he “took in the story.”
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