A Touch of Ink Magic Wafted Through the Library

On Monday, October 13, 2025, four fifth-grade classes attended a reading by author Theresa Bell in the library of our school. In a cozy atmosphere, the author read from her two novels “Sepia and the Awakening of Ink Magic” and “Sepia and the Conspiracy of Flohall.” She captivated us with the story about the twelve-year-old orphan Sepia, who travels to Flohall after a mysterious letter from Silbersilbe, one of the three great masters. Flohall is a famous port city where ink and books are more valuable than gold. With Master Silbersilbe, Sepia is to learn the craft of book printing. But why she — a clumsy girl who constantly has ink stains on her fingers — was chosen remains a mystery to Sepia. As increasingly mysterious things happen to her, she tries to get to the bottom of them with the help of her two new friends Niki and Sanzio.
Theresa Bell let a touch of ink magic drift through the library with her reading. The magical pictures by illustrator Eva Schöffmann-Davidov underscored the magic of the reading as well. A highlight were the brought-in types, narrow metal stamps on which individual letters or punctuation marks were embossed. With these, the author explained the craft of book printing to us listeners. Books used to be printed by hand. The words had to be arranged individually in rails, so-called angle hooks, in mirror image. You can surely imagine that making a single page cost a lot of work.
We enjoyed the reading a lot, and we are really excited to read the author’s two books. The reading was also a great incentive for some children to pick up a book again and let themselves be drawn into the magic of stories.
If you’re still looking for suitable reading material for the cold season, then simply come to the library on Tuesdays to Thursdays during the first or second break, or on Fridays during the second break! There you’ll find wonderful books for cozy reading afternoons.
A big thank you to the author Theresa Bell and the organizers of the Seiteneinsteiger reading festival, who offer wonderful events around the topic of reading every year.
A contribution by Lisa Günther

Photos: Lisa Günther