Steal this fantasy!

Before Prospero and Bo’s mother died she told them stories about her favorite city, Venice, Italy. With images of golden chariots, homes built on stilts that rise above water, and masked revelers, the brothers- Prospero, 12, and Bo, 5- run away from Germany to the majestic city on the lagoon in order to avoid being separated by their aunt and uncle. They find refuge with a group of young thieves, who is led by the mysterious Thief Lord. When an equally mysterious Count comes to the Thief Lord with a peculiar request, he and his thieves jump at the chance to pull off their biggest robbery yet, and their reward promises them financial freedom forever. Somewhere in Venice there exists an old carousel whose secret can unlock either a fountain of youth for the ageing, or a portal to adulthood for the young and willing, and the Count only wants the missing wing that resides in the home of a successful photographer. However, the heist doesn’t go as smooth as the group originally planned, and in the process the young thieves’ sense of fragile security breaks away. As they become acquainted with the vary people from who they are trying to hide, true personas are revealed, solid friendships begin to crumble, and unlikely characters prove they can be both trustworthy and courageous.


Cornelia Funke’s “urban-fantasy,” The Thief Lord, is an adventuresome, enchanting, and suspenseful novel that explores friendship, loyalty, and independence. Funke’s descriptions of Venice with winged lions, grand palaces, mazes of canals, secret islands, and lagoon-meandering gondolas are as magical and imaginative as the carousel that completes the fantasy. In the midst of the action, readers will ponder what life could be like for a child who depends on his wits for survival, and for adults who have long since departed childhood. Any boy or girl who has ever dreamt of running away from unappreciative surroundings in search of a place where he or she belonged ought to read The Thief Lord. Grades 4-7.


Funke, Cornelia. (2002). The Thief Lord. Frome, Somerset, UK: The Chicken House.
ISBN: 0-439-42089-X
Cover art from kidsreads.com, http://www.kidsreads.com/guides/thief_lord2.asp