Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Mo can literally bring books to life. Objects and people come out of the books when he reads aloud. He hasn't read aloud in years because of his fear of his great power. For not only does Mo bring characters and objects out of books, but for every person or thing that comes out, something or someone from our world goes in.

Villains that he read out of a book (a book also titled Inkheart) catch up with him and kidnap him, his aunt-in-law, his daughter, and the author of Inkheart, and demand that Mo read treasure out of books for them.

People often talk about the vivid world of books, of being able to enter new worlds through books, of being "lost in a book." But what if the opposite were true, that book characters could become lost in our world? That villains could enter our world and work their nefarious deeds on this side of the page? Cornelia Funke explores this intriguing possibility and weaves a tale that is totally engrossing.

A movie was made of Inkheart (2008) starring Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, and Paul Bettany.