The Thief Lord

November 11, 2002
Jones's (The Devil's Own; Brideshead Revisited) deep, sonorous voice and British accent set the perfect mood for German author Funke's adventurous tale of orphans on the run in Venice. Though set in modern-day Italy, Funke's story could comfortably sit alongside Oliver Twist
and Peter Pan; she incorporates elements from both these timeless works as she introduces brothers Prosper and Bo and their cohorts. Having run away from their cruel aunt and guardian (who wants to adopt only younger brother Bo), Prosper and Bo find themselves in the alleys and canals of Venice, a city their deceased mother spoke of with adoration. The boys find shelter, sustenance and camaraderie via a band of child thieves, led by a bold adolescent who calls himself the Thief Lord. Intrigue, suspense and humor abound as the boys outwit, then befriend, a local detective and a wealthy dowager all on the way to discovering a merry-go-round with magical powers. Funke leaves a few loose ends dangling, but most listeners won't mind as Jones reads at a good clip, catching them up in the excitement of the children's exploits and the colorful surroundings. Simultaneous release with Scholastic/Chicken House hardcover.
Ages 9-up.

June 24, 2002
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.

Starred review from November 10, 2003
"Wacky characters bring energy to this entertaining novel about thieving children, a disguise-obsessed detective and a magical merry-go-round," wrote PW
. Ages 9-12.

January 1, 2003
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 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

October 15, 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 1, 2002
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 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.