Children of the Red King is a series of fantasy novels by Jenny Nimmo which first began publishing in 2002. They describe the adventures of Charlie Bone.The series begins with Charlie Bone accidentally getting the wrong photograph from the photo developer... and discovering that he can hear people talking in the photo. While he is perturbed at this development, his grandmother and great aunts inform him he has magical abilities and enroll him in Bloor's Academy where he becomes part of the music department (because of his supposedly dead father, who played the piano). At Bloor's, Charlie makes new friends, encounters strange magic, and learns all about the history of his Big Screwed-Up Family. The books in the series are:
Midnight for Charlie Bone (2002)
The Time Twister (2003) (Also Charlie Bone and the Time Twister)
The Blue Boa (2004) (Also Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy)
The Castle of Mirrors (2005) (Also Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors)
Charlie Bone and the Hidden King (2006)
Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf (2007) (Also Charlie Bone and the Beast)
Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock (2008)
Charlie Bone and the Red Knight (2009)
This series contains examples of the following tropes:
Adults Are Useless: Mostly averted. Most of the adults are fairly competent; when they're unable to help the kids it's for reasons that actually make sense, and when they do help out it makes a big difference. Plus, for every nice adult there's two who are Jerkasses or completely psychotic.
Awesome McCoolname: Olivia Vertigo, Lysander Sage, Tancred Torsson, Gabriel Silk, Eric Shellhorn, Alice Angel, Orvil Onimous, anyone with the last name "Yewbeam"... yeah, there's a lot of these.
Badass Teacher: Dr. Saltweather and Senor Alvaro, though barely mentioned at all in the final battle, make quite a team.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Miss Chrystal/Titania Tilpin gets increasingly ugly after she turns out to be an evil witch.
Body Horror: Asa when he changes from human to beast, or vice versa.
Bouncer: Norton Cross is a sort-of bouncer for the Pets' Cafe.
Butt Monkey: Poor Benjamin and his dog Runner Bean just can't catch a break.
Cast Calculus: Rotates through the books. Mostly involves Charlie and Billy, involves Emma and Olivia more often than not, and occasionally includes Gabriel, Tancred and Lysander.
Heel Face Turn: Asa Pike, due to his nature as a Changer. It's implied that he actually might have rejoined the Bloors, had they not seen fit to lock him up for a few months in a cave, later on without sunlight (which is what he requires in order to be human). In other words, they deprived him of his humanity for several weeks and nearly starved him to death in the process. Their actions also led up to Asa's father being shot and killed by local hunters. It's no wonder he turned his back on them completely after that.
I Never Told You My Name: Alice Angel knows Olivia's name immediately when she and Charlie walk into her shop, and uses it repeatedly. It doesn't say much for Charlie's character that he doesn't think anything is wrong until Alice also says his name. It turns out that, unknown to them Alice is Olivia's next door neighbour, godmother, and self-declared guardian angel and a friend of Charlie's Uncle Paton.
Involuntary Shapeshifting: With a sufficient light source, Asa is human. But in the dark, he cannot retain that shape, instead automatically transforming into a beast — the eponymous "Wilderness Wolf" of the sixth book. Being trapped as an animal for too long can also have a bad effect on his sanity, though luckily he manages to hold himself together enough to not rip apart his rescuers when they come for him.
Killed Off for Real: In addition to the aforementioned Christopher and Mr. Pike, Big Bad Manfred and his grandfather Ezekiel die at the end of the last book.
Papa Wolf: Do not kill Yolanda Yewbeam or Tancred Torsson. Their fathers will be pissed.
Plot-Induced Stupidity: By all rights, Tancred and Lysander as a team are powerful enough to solve just about every problem Charlie has ever struggled with — especially when it comes to the Bloor family, who are all terrified of them. Why they never seem to remember this is a mystery.
Tancred actually isn't very good at controlling his powers, and often has to force himself from losing control of them. Lysander doesn't really have an excuse, though.
Police Are Useless: Justified, since there's not much the police can do about magical crimes, especially when they've got their hands full with the mundane variety already. Though one does help Charlie's mother offscreen in the last book.
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