The Ink Drinker (Hardcover, American ed.)

Book lovers everywhere will adore this twist on an old tale:

This young boy cannot think of a worse way to spend his summer: he has to help his Dad out with his bookstore, and he absolutely hates to read!  His job is to watch the store for shoplifters, but things take a twisted turn when he spies a pale character who seems to float through the aisles of the store.

But this stranger is not trying to steal books--he is drinking the words out of them with a straw!  So the boy goes on a chase to find out what this fellow is all about and they both wind up in a cemetery, where the boy discovers a taste for something much more filling than ink!