Emma and the Blue Genie by Cornelia Funke 90 pages

Cornelia Funke has long been one of my favorite authors of children's books.  Dragon Rider will always be in my top 20 favorites and I recommend it to kids all the time.  However, I am used to Funke writing books for older kids...at least 10-years-old and older, so I was intrigued by her new title Emma and the Blue Genie, because it was aimed at a much younger audience.  Funke can weave a story, she is responsible for the Inkheart series, you know.  I like that she took a stab at a simpler story to be told to a younger crew.  At only 90 pages long, this was a really fast read, but would be wonderful for your Mercy Watson/Junie B. Jones age kid.  The story is about a young girl who finds a genie in a bottle, but he has been stripped of his powers by an evil genie.  Well, what's a girl to do?  She has to help him get his power back and save his land.  This was a very cute story, with nice illustrations and well told to readers just getting into chapter books.