Herr der Diebe (The Thief Lord) - Cornelia Funke
Title: De Dievenbende Van Scipio
Original Title: Herr der Diebe (In English: The Thief Lord)
Author: Cornelia Funke
Genre: Children's
Publisher: Em. Querido / Libris, 2010 (2000)
Pages: Paperback, 329
Language: Dutch (from German)
Rating: 8/10
Summary: Orphan Prosper and his little brother Bo ran away from home because their aunt and uncle wanted to only adopt Bo and put Prosper in a children's home. The boys hide in Venice but their aunt and uncle are aware of this and hire local detective Victor to find them.
Review
I bought this for Children's Bookweek and thought it would be about Victor chasing the boys through town. The story is told from Prosper and Victor's perspective, but turned out to be much more adventurous than simply getting the kids back to their family.
The boys are living with a gang of streetkids and are protected by young teenager Scipio, who they call "The Lord Of Thiefs". The group is solicited to steal an ancient treasure and that assignment is the cause of a whole chain of unexpected events.
Best about this book are the very natural conversations between not only the children, but also between them and each of the adults. The kids are clearly not dumb and deal with the twists and turns of life much more cleverly than the grown ups. I love the relationships that are build between all of them, but in particular between Prosper and Scipio. We only get the point of view of Prosper, so we never know what's going on inside Scipio's head, but he is definitely one of the most interesting young characters I've read about in a children's book.
Although comparing the book to Harry Potter as is done on the cover, is giving this universe too much credit. The dialogues are just as fun though. Recommended.
Original Title: Herr der Diebe (In English: The Thief Lord)
Author: Cornelia Funke
Genre: Children's
Publisher: Em. Querido / Libris, 2010 (2000)
Pages: Paperback, 329
Language: Dutch (from German)
Rating: 8/10
Summary: Orphan Prosper and his little brother Bo ran away from home because their aunt and uncle wanted to only adopt Bo and put Prosper in a children's home. The boys hide in Venice but their aunt and uncle are aware of this and hire local detective Victor to find them.
Review
I bought this for Children's Bookweek and thought it would be about Victor chasing the boys through town. The story is told from Prosper and Victor's perspective, but turned out to be much more adventurous than simply getting the kids back to their family.
The boys are living with a gang of streetkids and are protected by young teenager Scipio, who they call "The Lord Of Thiefs". The group is solicited to steal an ancient treasure and that assignment is the cause of a whole chain of unexpected events.
Best about this book are the very natural conversations between not only the children, but also between them and each of the adults. The kids are clearly not dumb and deal with the twists and turns of life much more cleverly than the grown ups. I love the relationships that are build between all of them, but in particular between Prosper and Scipio. We only get the point of view of Prosper, so we never know what's going on inside Scipio's head, but he is definitely one of the most interesting young characters I've read about in a children's book.
Although comparing the book to Harry Potter as is done on the cover, is giving this universe too much credit. The dialogues are just as fun though. Recommended.