The Thief Lord

The Thief Lord
by Cornelia Funke

Scholastic, Inc, NY







Genre:  Fiction, Mystery, Magical Realism

Honors:  New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, Book Sense Bestseller, NY Times Notable Book, ALA Notable Book, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Child Magazine Best Book of the Year, Parenting Magazine Book of the Year  

Review:  Determined to stay together after their mother's death, Prosper and Bo run away to Venice, far from the aunt that desires to adopt one and not the other. They join a band of other unclaimed children, led by a mysterious boy named "The Thief Lord". But, their aunt has not given up on finding and adopting little Bo, and hires a clever sleuth to find her nephews. This is an adventurous tale, comprised of magical elements, and twists and turns.

Opinion: I thoroughly enjoyed this heartwarming story set in Venice, Italy. Cornelia Funke is a master at writing novels that immerses her readers deeply into the plot and I found myself routing for each of the characters until a positive resolution had been found for each one of them.

Ideas:  As this book takes place in Venice, and describes living there in detail, this would be a good book to tie into a geography lesson. Another idea might be to put this book on a display of the many Cornelia Funke books in print.