Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Sexual Content:  Hornet falsely claims she is being molested/kidnapped by Detective Victor Getz, as he is following the orphans through the city.

Adult Themes:  Prosper and Bo are orphaned.  Their cruel Aunt Esther does not want Prosper at all.  She only wishes to adopt Bo, since he is a darling little boy.  The orphans would rather live in an abandoned movie theater than live at The Sister’s of Mercy Orphanage.

Synopsis

The Thief Lord is a story of two brothers, Prosper and Bo.  Prosper is twelve and Bo is five years old.  After the death of their mother, they run away from their cruel Aunt Esther.  Esther wants to adopt a perfect little boy, she wants Bo, and only Bo.  She wants to send Prosper to boarding school.  The boys flee to Venice, the magical city their mother told them about.  While orphans in Venice, they are befriended by a pack of orphans and their leader, Scipio a.k.a. “The Thief Lord”.  The Thief Lord provides them with shelter in an abandoned movie theater, The Stella.  They survive by selling possessions Scipio steals from the wealthy to a quirky and greedy shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa.   The boy’s happiness is fleeting.  Aunt Esther hires a detective, Victor Getz to bring Bo back to her. Victor Getz finds Bo and Bo tells him where he lives.  Victor meets the owner of The Stella, Dottorre Massimo, and finds The Thief Lord is Scipio Massimo, Dottorre’s son.  Victor raids The Stella and is held hostage by the orphans.  They ultimately befriend Victor and he realizes that his heart has softened towards the orphans and he dupes Aunt Esther.

The Thief Lord’s services are in demand.  He accepts the job and enlists the orphans to help him steal a wooden wing from Ida Spavento, a famous photographer.  The orphans are caught by Ida Spavento as they try to steal the wooden wing.  Ida reveals the story of the wooden wing. The wing belongs on a magical merry-go-round that can make a child an adult and an adult a child.  They follow the buyer of the wooden wing, the Conte, to the island, where the merry-go-round is kept.  The Conte and Countessa ride and become younger versions of themselves. Scipio rides and becomes and adult.  Barbarossa crashes the party and rides, turning into a child, and breaks the merry-go-round.  Scipio cannot go home to his father as a grown man so he becomes Victor’s apprentice detective.  The orphans grapple with a horrid child Barbarossa. They don’t know how to rid themselves of him.  They help Barbarossa trick Aunt Esther into adopting him.  Barbarossa begins to steal from Aunt Esther and she sends him away to boarding school where he successfully bullies all the other children and forces them to call him, “The Thief Lord”.

We read this book aloud.  I really enjoyed reading this tale set in Venice.  Funke is a fabulous writer!  I could smell the sea air coming off the lagoon as we traveled through the canals of Venice with Scipio and Prosper.

©2010 The Literate Mother