The Thief Lord

Long a favorite of mine, every couple of years I enjoy returning to this book about two brothers who fall in with a group of Venetian street children and the young master-thief who oversees them. Funke's classic, assured style grants this relatively contemporary novel (first published in Germany in 2000) a charming, old-fashioned sensibility, while the pacing and characterization should appeal to the most modern of readers, at least to my eyes. The book has everything I love in stories for young readers–mystery, magic, friendship, and startling plot twists–and the interior illustrations done by Funke herself are lovely.

If you are taking kids to Italy, there is no better way to whet their appetites for travel than this rip-roaring adventure that’s as twisted and turned as the streets of Venice itself. This book helped me fall in love with Venice all over again. Orphan brothers run away to this magical city and find themselves a part of a merry band of street urchins headed by the mysterious Thief Lord. But what secret is their benefactor hiding? Who is he really and where does he disappear to every night? Determined to find the truth the brothers are pulled into… show more.