Readers return to Bloor's Academy in the paper-over-board Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy by Jenny Nimmo. This third installment in the series finds Charlie and friends helping a boy who was turned invisible by a magic snake, as punishment for snooping. An ancient, hypnotic shape-shifter arrives and attempts to thwart their efforts, a formidable foe for the magically endowed students. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Gr. 5-7. The series continues with Charlie Bone and his friends at Bloor Academy, where, this time, they must save Ollie Sparks, who has become invisible following an encounter with a magical blue boa constrictor. Charlie has other problems, too: his nasty aunts are definitely up to something mean. When Charlie's uncle Paton disappears and a new girl with eyes that constantly change color shows up at his house, the adventure is on! Characters are introduced quickly at the beginning, but it isn't necessary to have read the first two books to enjoy this one. Readers will quickly sort out the personalities and settle into the story of magically talented friends--from Billy who speaks to animals to Tancred who can call down the weather--coming together to solve a mystery. The novel's length may be initially daunting for some young readers, but the type is large and generously spaced. --Cindy Welch Copyright 2004 Booklist

Gr 4-7-The third title (Orchard, 2004) in Jenny Nimmo's The Children of the Red King series finds Charlie Bone entering boarding school. Charlie and Emma find an invisible boy named Ollie Sparks at the school, and the story mainly involves their efforts to make Ollie visible again. Charlie's great aunts, reminiscent of Macbeth's three witches, work with a mysterious and frightening girl named Belle to counter any of the children's attempts toward defeating evil. Belle's eyes disconcertingly change color with her moods and she is sweetly threatening to the other children. The comparisons with the Harry Potter series are inevitable, with a great many similarities. Listeners who have not read the first two titles in the quartet may be confused by all of the references to events in the previous books; little history is given to help those new to the series. For example, why do Charlie and his sweet mother live with these obviously wicked aunts? Apparently wicked magician Ezekiel Bloor and his family are the nemeses of good forces. Charlie's inadvertent releasing of Skarpo the Sorcerer from his portrait presumably will be the focus of the last book in the series. Simon Russell Beale infuses his well-paced reading with a sense of conviction, allowing newcomers to the series to relate better to the unfamiliar characters.-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.