The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

I just finished up The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke and I have to say that I loved it. Lately I've discovered that there are many books tucked away in the "Kids" and "Teens" sections at the bookstore that deserve some notice from adults too.

This is an adventure tale about some homeless kids living in Venice. In has all the makings of a delightful story -- suspense, mystery, orphans, and even an old, abandoned movie theater. If you want a quick read that is lots of fun, check it out. Better yet, read it with your kid or grandkid!

I see this was also made into a film which I'll need to check out. And this is also the author of the Inkheart books which are now on my reading list.

Comments

[jacey]

Yeah! I liked The Thief Lord quite a bit, as well. The inkheart series is really lovely, too. I'm kind of a YA fiction junkie. I've read almost everything in that section of the library, good and bad.

[nicole]

The first Cornelia Funke book I read was "Der Drachenreiter" (the dragonrider? I don't know the title of the translation, sorry) which is very very good. I read that while pregnant with my son (he's 8 now) and after Sara was born (Sept. 2007) I read it to both kids and Sam loved it. He actually wants me to read it again.
My best friend, who reads to Sam over the phone, read the Thief Lord last year with mixed results. I think at 7 Sam was really still a bit too young to really understand what the book is about but the bits he did "get" he liked.

[Annette Danek]

Inkheart series is great as well. Another different YA series is by Libba Bray. The first book is A Great and Terrible Beauty. Check it out.