Geronimo Stilton The Enchanted Charms: The Seventh Adventure of the Kingdom of Fantasy product reviews

We're big fans of Geronimo Stilton and in particular the Kingdom of Fantasy series - they were my son's first introduction to chapter books and one series that we keep coming back to. The Enchanted Charms is the 7th book in the series and there is always something new and exciting awaiting Geronimo whenever he returns to the Kingdom of Fantasy.

In this book Geronimo is charged with the mission of collecting all 7 enchanted charms before the Wizard of the Black Pearl can get to them. As always there are fantastical creatures to help him on his way and devious villains who try to hinder his progress. The story is fast paced and action packed with lots of glossy illustrations throughout. The differing fonts, text sizes and colours add interest to each page and while they may be visually appealing to younger readers, my son often finds it difficult to decipher some of the words when reading independently, because of it.

There is also plenty of humour as Geronimo isn't your typical hero and has a unique way of expressing himself. My son loves looking at the maps that are included before each new area and cracking the occasional code using the Fantasian alphabet located at the back of the book (this always seems to become a family effort).

This book has a great sense of adventure and endless imagination that will appeal to both boys and girls and I know that it's a book that we'll keep coming back to.

Our household are now very much addicted to Geronimo Stilton books. Mr Five and I have read a number of books across the range and we have enjoyed them very much. We are now finding that Miss Three is wanting to hear what it is all about as well. In fact, this morning she sat and listened to the first 40 pages of The Enchanted Charms without any fuss at all. I think that is impressive that a book aimed at older children could capture the attention and interest of such a young child. I think the fact that they are so visual helps to capture a child's interest.

As with all of the books in the series, The Enchanted Charms has a formula that really works. There is a strong sense of style which carries from one book to the other. We love the way that variety in font, colour and size allows the young reader to maintain interest as the book is being read to him or her. We find that the illustrations are bright, colourful and in the same style as all the previous books. Upon looking at the credits at the front of the book, I note that there are several illustrators. This makes it even more impressive that the style of the illustrations can be so consistent throughout all of the Geronimo Stilton books.

As a teacher and a mother of young children, I really appreciate the way that imagination is encouraged in this book (as well as the others in the series). The use of fun and descriptive language encourages children to use interesting words in their spoken and written words.

"The Enchanted Charms" leads us on a mission with Geronimo to find the seven charms
and string them on the Golden Chain. As usual, he has to watch out for danger along the way and prove himself as a hero. During his journey, he meets other characters, some of whom he has met before in previous adventures. It is great how the books have some loose links between them but can also be read independently without the need for prior information.

There are fun additions to the storyline throughout the book; maps, codes, songs and rhymes, all of which enhance and add fun to the book. I found that Mr Five would pop back to these items after I had finished a reading session and he would enjoy them by himself. Even though the reading of the book itself is still a bit beyond him, he really enjoyed the parts he could be independent with. The only thing that we found difficult was that the code sheet is located at the back of the book and it is hard to flick back and forth in order to be able to crack the code. We have solved this problem by taking a photo of the code page and having it beside us while we work out the code.

I find that the Geronimo Stilton books foster a great sense of adventure and imagination in Mr Five and I will continue to read them with him. It is exciting that Miss Three now wants to be part of our adventures as well.