Midnight for Charlie Bone was described to me as "a bit like a Harry Potter" for younger children. As a huge HP geek, this kind of put me off of the series, And it was only when my students started reading it that I grudgingly decided to give it a go. 
 What I found is that Charlie Bone is a very good book about a boy who finds out he has an exceptional gift, is sent to a special school to have the gift "monitored", and in the meantime becomes embroiled in a mystery that -- if he solve it-- may save some innocent lives. The characters in Charlie Bone are well developed. One finishes this first book in the series feeling as if they really know Charlie, his neighbor and best friend Benjamin, Charlie's mother, grandmother Maisie, Grandma Bone, and curious Uncle Peyton. We meet and come to love Fidelio Gunn, Olivia Vertigo, and Julia Engledew. The setting is a jumble of modern day and past-like customs and curiosities. Regular humans live among the "endowed" (the ones with magic), but don't seem aware of their special powers. The plot takes the reader on a whirlwind ride that, for the most part, is interesting and makes sense. Many of the first book's conflicts are solved by the end of the book, but there are plenty of other topics and problems that are not resolved, and leave the reader interested to pick up book 2. 
 I enjoyed the book, and feel certain I will continue reading the series as there are unanswered questions I want to find the answers for. Is it "another Harry Potter series"? I wouldn't say that,...not at this point anyway, but it is a good book that I feel I can eAsily recommend to my students.