Get ready—a little ink blot is about to become your new best friend

The Rylance family is stuck. Dad’s got writer’s block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school—even though he can’t draw. Sarah’s still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom so much more than they can say.

Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance’s sketchbook. Then one night the ink of his drawings runs together—and leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything.

Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple of chapters of his math book—not good—and the story he’s supposed to be illustrating for school—also not good. But Inkling’s also started drawing the pictures to go with Ethan’s story, which is amazing! It’s just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too. For Sarah he’s a puppy. And for Dad he’s a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It’s exactly what they all wanted.

It’s not until Inkling goes missing that this family is forced to face the larger questions of what they—and Inkling—truly need.

With this book, Kenneth Oppel has given us a small masterpiece of middle-grade fiction. Inkling is funny and fizzy and exciting, and it brims with the kind of interesting ideas and dilemmas that kids will love to wrestle with. And Sydney Smith has created wonderfully inky illustrations to bring the story to vivid life.