Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart

Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart. Scholastic, 2003 [0-439-53164-0]
One night Meggie wakes to find a stranger outside her window staring at her house. When he is invited in by her father, thus starts a fanciful journey. It appears that when her father reads books out loud, he brings the characters to this world. When this happens someone must leave this world and enter the book.. that is what happened to Maggie's mother. Nine years ago her father read a book and brought a bunch of evil characters to this world. Now Meggie, her father, and a friend book collector have to battle these cruel and evil people and send them back to the book some way. This 534 page book is an incredible fantasy. It might be a good "if-you-liked-Harry-Potter" type book. Just note that these are evil and cruel characters who kill and harm people.