Helen Laycock

I loved the beginning - the meeting of Evie and Mia on the train. It was so full of information and the dialogue almost zapped. The tension was heightened when the girls reached their destination and found no one was at hand to collect them from the station. I liked the feeling of confusion that crept in as they met their new classmates and teachers.
However, I am a very practical minded person and the events as they unfolded next were just too far fetched. How could two girls subdue and kidnap a grown man? How could they find their way to Mia's cottage so easily? Also, I just didn't buy it that the person who wrote the curse would also leave the antidote so conveniently at hand. Everything was just too 'pat' for me.… (plus d'informations)

This may be of interest to the target audience, but it doesn't warrant reading for anyone over eight, I'm afraid. Both the sequence of events (I hesitate to ennoble them with the term "plot") and the writing style suggest a novelization of events in a comic strip, rather than a considered work of art. I'm a huge fan of children's books, and would rather read a great book for kids than a merely good book for adults--E.B. White, Diana Wynne Jones, E.L. Konigsburg are all favourites--but I'm afraid Charlie failed to capture my heart or mind. I can no longer remember which recommendation engine suggested I purchase this one, but they got it sadly wrong.

Perfect for slow readers (as the chapters are tiny) who are undemanding about niceties like characterization, world-building, or surprise. If you have a child that gets the giggles when someone trips and falls, they may well warm to the many scrapes poor Charlie finds himself in.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)… (plus d'informations)