Charlie Bone (Children of the Red King Series)

The first six books (there are two more)

Of all Harry's Homeboys, I think Charlie is probably the tag-along.  If these fellas really were a standard neighborhood group of kids, then Charlie might be Harry's kid-brother, because they have some very obvious similarities. For example:  Charlie's hair is always a mess (Harry's is sort of lanky and messy, and Charlie's is described as "a hedge" that he can't flatten, but they both get chided for their hair by their unpleasant relatives), they both go to special boarding schools, and they both have magical powers (that one is sort of a given, though).

With all that aside, Charlie really is awesome!  I love these books. The first book (Midnight for Charlie Bone) isn't fantastic: the writing isn't as great as some, and the climax of the plot isn't very exciting.  However, it does set up the background really well for the next seven books in the series, and in my opinion the writing just gets better.  (I think my personal favorite is The Time Twister, so at least read up to that point).  

The plot: Charlie lives in an old, mysterious city somewhere in the British Isles.  He himself has always lived a normal life in the suburbs with his mother, his mysterious uncle Paton, and his two grandmothers: Maisie Jones and the creepy Grandma Bone.  He is told that his father died in a car accident when he was two, but he doesn't even know what he looks like because there are no pictures of him in the house.  One day, however, Charlie discovers that he can hear the voices of the people in photographs, and Grandma Bone and her evil sisters, the Yewbeams, send him to "Bloor's Academy". The Academy, run by the wicked Dr. Bloor and his son, is a school that houses artistic geniuses as well as a handful of children called "the endowed" who are all descendants of a great magician-king and have inherited some of his strange gifts.   Charlie soon discovers, however, that the war started between the Red King's children (of the ten, five were good and five turned evil) has continued through the centuries, and is still waiting to be resolved.

Why I love these books:  the fictional history of the Red King is so complex and mysterious. In every book, new information about the past twists Charlie's world (and because his gift is listening to old photographs, he can learn a lot about the past that has been silenced by the Bloors and the Yewbeams).  The city is full of old secrets, and there many endowed people--children and adults--who have escaped the controlling hand of the Bloors and can secretly aid or hurt Charlie and his Friends.  Also, the strange gifts can be anything, which is really fun and crazy. The books are full of surprises, fun to read, and a little dark, though good always prevails.  You will enjoy them!

Just so you know, here is the order of the series, all by Jenny Nimmo:
#1 Midnight for Charlie Bone
#2 Charlie Bone and the Time Twister
#3 Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy
#4 Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors
#5 Charlie Bone and the Hidden King
#6 Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf
#7 Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock
#8 Charlie Bone and the Red Knight