Book
The Thief Lord / Cornelia Funke.
Summary:
Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from--Venice's "Thief Lord."
Record details
- ISBN: 9780545227704
- ISBN: 9780439420891 (pbk.)
- ISBN: 9780439404372
- ISBN: 0439404371
- ISBN: 043942089X (pbk.)
- Physical Description: 349 p. : | text 22 cm.
- Publisher: New York : The Chicken House/Scholastic, 2002, c2001.
Content descriptions
- Awards Note:
- Young Reader's Choice Award, 2005.
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Available copies
- 12 of 12 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Fernie Heritage Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 12 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernie Heritage Library | J FIC FUN (Text) | 35136000472812 | Junior Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #2 October 2002
Gr. 6-9. There are shards of wonderful stories in this ambitious narrative, but they don't quite cohere into a shimmering whole. That said, this is still a pretty nifty adventure set as brilliantly in its Venetian setting as a baroque pearl. Twelve-year-old Prosper and five-year-old Boniface cling to the stories their mother told them of Venice, with its winged lions and rooftop angels. After her death, they run away from Hamburg and their pinch-faced relatives to Venice, where a motley crew of children, living in an abandoned movie theatre, takes them in. The leader is Scipio, the Thief Lord, who directs the petty thievery and acts as older brother to the group. Victor, a gentle detective, has been hired to find the brothers, and he does so quickly, but is bemused by their ragtag family and is loathe to hand them over to the aunt. Funke beguiles young readers as she paints the city of Venice in exquisite strokes; the affection between the brothers is sweetly rendered. However, a fantasy element surfaces barely 100 pages from the end where it startles and distracts. It fits with the Venetian setting but not with the structure of the story. This German import is a popular choice in Europe. ((Reviewed October 15, 2002)) Copyright2002 Booklist Reviews - Horn Book Guide Reviews : Horn Book Guide Reviews 2003 Spring
A bachelor detective accepts a commission to find two runaway brothers. To avoid being separated by their aunt, the boys are living in Venice with a gang of thieving orphans led by the cocky Thief Lord. They become entangled in a caper that involves stealing the magical missing piece of a carousel. The story's pace is slow, but the resonance of the carousel image creates a potent atmosphere that laces the tale with excitement. Copyright 2003 Horn Book Guide Reviews - Horn Book Magazine Reviews : Horn Book Magazine Reviews 2002 #6
The story opens with a solitary bachelor detective, Victor, accepting a commission to find two runaway brothers: Prosper, the older boy (who is not wanted); and Boniface, or Bo, who looks like an angel and is therefore dear to his childless (and humorless) aunt. The brothers have run away to Venice to avoid being separated and are living with a gang of thieving orphans presided over by the boyish, cocky Thief Lord. As Victor's sympathies begin to shift from the aunt to the brothers, the gang of thieves becomes entangled in a caper that involves stealing a wooden wing from a carved lion-the missing piece of a carousel that magically turns old people young again and makes children grow to adults in an instant. The problem is not the wing's owner, artist Ida Spavento-she actually helps them, provided she can follow along to discover where the wing will be taken. The real complication is the Thief Lord, whose identity turns out to be smaller-than-life and whose attraction to the magic of the carousel draws the gang into further danger. The story moves at a slow pace, lingering in explanatory dialogue and descriptions of Venice, but the idiosyncrasy and resonance of the central carousel image create a potent, continental atmosphere that laces the tale with a bit of excitement. In the course of pursuing the carousel's mystery, Victor and Ida and the brothers fob off Prosper and Bo's aunt with the kind of child she really wants and band together as a new kind of family-a sweet and comforting conclusion that will satisfy readers whose hearts have been touched by the loyalty and courage of the two brothers and the rewarded generosity of their new foster parents. Copyright 2002 Horn Book Magazine Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2002 August #1
When the orphans Prosper, 12, and Boniface, 5, run away from Hamburg to Venice to escape separation by their aunt and uncle Hartlieb, the crotchety, childless couple hires private detective Victor Getz to find Bo, the only brother they want. Prop and Bo feel at home with their new comrades (three other orphans who survive by picking pockets, but are otherwise harmless) in an abandoned movie theater. Their ringleader, the mysterious Thief Lord, appears from time to time with stolen riches that he gives to his poor friends. Harrowing and comical escapades abound when the Thief Lord accepts a job that will leave him and his friends financially secure-to steal a wing from a wooden lion statue. This wing, which belongs to the unconventional, kindhearted photographer Ida Spavento, is no ordinary piece of wood, but rather the missing piece to a hidden, magical merry-go-round rumored to turn children into adults and adults into children. As the children win over Ida, and even Victor, this new band of outcasts rescues one another from perilous events and scheming villains; ventures to the bewitched Secret Isle from which, as more rumors have it, no one ever returns; finds the missing merry-go-round; and creates the perfect solution. The magical city of Venice, with its moonlit waters, maze of canals, and magnificent palaces, is an excellent setting for the plot twists and turns in this fantasy/mystery/adventure, all rolled into one spellbinding story. A bestselling author in Germany, who has reached the US for the first time, Funke delights readers in the feelings of childhood, what it feels like to be innocent, afraid, curious, and safe; need friends and love; and want independence yet also to be cared for. Although the core of this tale is heartwarming, the merry-go-round, like Ray Bradbury's carousel in Something Wicked This Way Comes, hints at darkness, leaving its riders and the novel's readers changed forever. (map, glossary, not seen) (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus 2002 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2002 June #4
Wacky characters bring energy to this translation of an entertaining German novel about thieving children, a disguise-obsessed detective and a magical merry-go-round. After their mother dies, 12-year-old Prosper and his brother, Bo, five, flee from Hamburg to Venice (an awful aunt plans to adopt only Bo). They live in an abandoned movie theater with several other street children under the care of the Thief Lord, a cocky youth who claims to rob "the city's most elegant houses." A mysterious man hires the Thief Lord to steal a wooden wing, which the kids later learn has broken off a long-lost merry-go-round said to make "adults out of children and children out of adults," but the plan alters when Victor, the detective Aunt Esther hired to track the brothers, discovers their camp and reveals that the Thief Lord is actually from a wealthy family. There are a lot of story lines to follow, and the pacing is sometimes off (readers may feel that Funke spends too little time on what happens when the children find the carousel, and too much on the ruse they pull on Prosper's aunt). But between kindhearted Victor and his collection of fake beards, the Thief Lord in his mask and high-heeled boots, and a rascally street kid who loves to steal, Prosper's new world abounds with colorful characters. The Venetian setting is ripe for mystery and the city's alleys and canals ratchet up the suspense in the chase scenes. Ages 9-12. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2002 October
Gr 6-8-A popular German author makes a strong English-language debut with this tale of a group of orphaned and fugitive children trying to eke out a furtive existence on the watery "streets" of modern Venice. Funke brings together a large but not indigestible array of adults and children, several of whom, thanks to a bit of magic near the end, switch roles. To keep from being separated after their parents' death, young Prosper spirits his little brother Boniface to fabled Venice, which their mother had always described as a magical place. Quickly falling in with a trio of other orphans, presided over by Scipio, a masked lad who styles himself a master thief, the children become embroiled in a complex set of captures, escapes, squabbles, revelations, and subplots. At the end, they find not only an agreeable new home, but also literal proof of their city's magical reputation, for on a nearby island, an ancient, fragile carousel is found that can spin old people young, and vice versa. Funke delineates her characters and the changing textures of their relationships with masterful subtlety, as well as sometimes-puckish humor. It's a compelling tale, rich in ingenious twists, with a setting and cast that will linger in readers' memories.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. - Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews : VOYA Reviews 2003 April
This German best-selling children's author creates a delightful tale that borrows a little from Oliver Twist and a bit from the magic of the Harry Potter books. A good-hearted private investigator is hired by a somewhat villainous couple to find their orphaned nephews. Fearing that the couple will separate them and actually only want them for their inheritance, the boys have run away to Venice, where they have the good fortune to fall amongst a tight group of street urchins, who often make ends meet through petty theft and cons. They live comfortably in an abandoned theater, benefactors of a mysterious masked boy who calls himself the Thief Lord. He often supplies them with food and expensive goods to hock. Life gets complicated when the children are hired by a sinister old man to retrieve a wooden wing from an old woman's home just as the investigator discovers the hideaway. What is the secret of the wing? Who is the old woman? All is resolved as the Thief Lord is unmasked, the boys outwit their aunt with the help of the PI, and the wing is restored to its mystical origins with some dire consequences. The magical city of Venice is used to full advantage. The characters are richly and realistically drawn-the good guys are not always good and the bad not really so bad. This satisfying, twisting tale is for upper elementary readers who enjoy a dab of magic surrounded by a charming story.-Kevin Beach. 5Q 4P M J Copyright 2003 Voya Reviews