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Book Summary

Reviewed by Matt Berman

After their mother's death, Prosper and Bo run away from their unpleasant aunt Esther, who plans to adopt Bo and send Prosper off to boarding school. Arriving in Venice they fall in with a small group of children who live in an abandoned theater and make a living by stealing, led by a boy who calls himself the Thief Lord.

Tracked by an eccentric detective hired by their aunt, the children instead capture the detective and hold him prisoner while planning a theft, commissioned by a mysterious Conte, of a broken wooden wing that comes from a legendary, and possibly magical, carousel.

Is It Any Good?

3

The great popularity of this book with children is something of a mystery. It is very slow to get started, the fantasy element doesn't appear until the last 75 pages, there's little emotional involvement, and the rest of the story meanders as much as the winding canals of Venice. For adults, the story is also problematic -- none of the grownup characters ring true or behave like any adult you've ever met. And the amorality of the children, and the author, is a concern.

But perhaps that's what makes the book appealing to children: For them the fantasy begins long before the magic appears, with self-sufficient children and adults who let them be, crime without punishment, and complete freedom. Living on their own in a theater in Venice, with kindly adults around to care for them but not bother them or make them clean up and go to school, must seem like a magical fantasy to children whose lives are programmed and whose every waking minute is supervised.

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