As soon as his family finds out that he's "endowed" with a power, Charlie is informed of his father's family lineage and enrolled in Bloor's Academy. There, he meets other endowed children as well as just normally gifted students. Chaos ensues, and Charlie finds himself on a wild ride of magic and powers and secret, age old histories. Magic Enhancement: Paton Yewbeam is a "power booster", though this mainly extends just to electronics, lightbulbs in particular. He also knows how to utilize this power effectively, and even manages to fatally electrocute Yolanda with it. Disappeared Dad: Lyell Bone, who was hypnotized by Manfred and hidden away as a music teacher in the Academy for the next ten years. He's woken up in the fifth book and is finally reunited with his wife and son.

Emma Tolly can turn into birds and fly, and is an excellent artist specialising in drawing birds. She was hypnotized by Manfred Bloor for eight years and renamed Emilia Moon. Charlie and his friends rescue her in the first book. She lives with her aunt, Julia Ingledew because her parents died and her previous guardian made the mistake of giving her to the Bloors. She saved Tancred from drowning and started dating Tancred at the end of the last book.Emma Tolly also chooses to return to Bloor's Academy after her hypnotic trance is broken, for exactly the same reason as Charlie. Olivia Vertigo is an illusionist, but she does not discover her endowment until the fourth book. She is an aspiring actress and is constantly changing her appearance, especially her hair colour. Hidden in Plain Sight: Charlie's father. He was imprisoned in Bloor's Academy for years, where he posed as a piano teacher. When Charlie starts attending the Academy he sees him without ever realising who he really is. After finally discovering where he's been hidden, Charlie is quite bitter about this. For the most part, Charlie's friends developed acceptably as characters. I liked them all with perhaps the exception of Olivia - she was not a likable character in the least. It felt like she was meant to be but in the end, it fell flat.

Fantastic Racism: The Yewbeams look down upon Charlie's mother and maternal grandmother because they're unendowed and without any impressive lineage. Though unknown to them, they're actually descended from the Welsh wizard Mathonwy, who was a close friend of the Red King. Orvil Onimous is the husband of Onoria Onimous and co-owner of the Pets Cafe. Also is an expert on the Red King and his history. He and his wife help Charlie and his friends in every way they can. Orvil was also almost killed by his doorman Norton Cross while he was cycling with his wife. This book is about a child named Charlie Bone, obviously. Charlie was just living his normal, slightly boring life until he one day discovers that he's able to witness the story behind a photograph. Be it a picture of Charlie's best friend with his dog, a newspaper clipping of yesterday's events, or even a years old photo of a couple and their child. When he looks at a photo, he hears what happened while it was being taken. Zelda Dobinski is descended from a long line of Polish magicians. Her endowment is telekinesis. She can move objects with her mind and is distantly related to Inez and Idith Branko. She leaves Bloor's Academy in the third book and goes to study Math in a university.Playing with Fire: Manfred Bloor, upon losing his hypnotism power, begins instead to develop fire powers like his ancestor Borlath. This is especially terrifying for the younger kids when the only other firestarter in the series was a cruel, brutal tyrant whose greatest sport was stated to be torture.

Missing Mom: Dagbert Endless' mother is never seen and is only mentioned once in the series. It's revealed in the Dramatis Personae that she was killed by a fishing net when Dagbert was five years old. When Olivia giggles while hiding in a closet that is literally full of skeletons, when they think they're about to be caught and possibly killed by a psychopath. There's no indication of her finding anything funny, but suddenly she has trouble stopping her giggles. Multigenerational Household: Charlie's household consists of him, his mother, both his grandmothers, and his great-uncle. Fidelio Gunn is not endowed, but is an excellent musician. He comes from a family of musicians and owns a deaf cat. He is one of Charlie's most loyal and best friends.Julia Ingledew is the owner of Ingledew's Bookstore and is Emma Tolly's aunt. She has a relationship with Paton Yewbeam and marries him at the end of the last book. Children of the Red King is a series of ten children's fantasy, school and adventure novels written by British author Jenny Nimmo, first published by Egmont 2002 to 2010. [2] It is sometimes called "the Charlie Bone series" after its main character. A series of five books was announced in advance, completed in 2006, and sometimes the books were called the "Red King Quintet" until its continuation. Naren Bloor, Bartholemew Bloor's daughter, can send shadows with the moon over great distances. She had disappeared and Charlie Bone finds out she was on the sea when Lord Grimwald tried to drown his parents in the sea.

This is a magical fantasy that’s fast-paced and quite easy-to-read. The main character, Charlie Bone has a very special gift; he can actually hear people in photos talking. The fabulous powers of Red King were initially passed down via his descendants, after they had turned up quite unexpectedly in a person who didn’t have any idea where they actually came from. This is exactly what happened to Bone and some of the children that he met behind the grim, the gray wall of Bloor’s Academy. I Choose to Stay: Even after being lost in the ruin at the end of the first book, Charlie chooses to stay at Bloor's to help the good endowed children of the Red King fight against the bad guys.Bindi Loom has no confirmed endowment, though it is believed by some she shares her sister's ability. She supports Charlie and his friends until leaving Bloor Academy after the second book. The fourth instalment of the international best-selling series from Jenny Nimmo starring Charlie Bone.