Fantasy, Young Adult || You may wonder how a two-dimensional drawing could possibly be a threat. Here's the answer: Wild Chalklings scurry across the ground like scorpions or land piranhas, and bite chunks out of your feet. At which point you fall to the ground and they swarm you. Enough said. The Rithmatist is about a 14-year-old kid named Joel who wants desperately to be a Rithmatist. But he wasn't Chosen, so he doesn't have the ability to bring chalklings or Rithmatic lines to life. All he can do is watch as The Rithmatist students at Armedius Academy learn the mystical art that he would give anything to practice. Then Rithmatist students start disappearing, kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving only trails of blood. Joel's professor asks him to help investigate—putting Joel and his friend Melody on the trail of a discovery that could change Rithmatics—and their world—forever….