How old is bo in the thief lord

Befriended by a gang of street children and their mysterious leader, the Thief Lord, they shelter in an old, disused cinema. On their trail is a bungling detective, obsessed with disguises and the health of his pet tortoises. But a greater threat to the boys' new-found freedom is something from a forgotten past — a beautiful magical treasure with the power to spin time itself.

There are many stories about children who don't want to grow up, famous stories like 'Peter Pan' or 'Pippi Longstocking'. But is there one about children who want nothing more but to grow up? Children who can't wait to be allowed to do all the things only adults can do? I was such a child. I desperately wanted to be an adult and still find it quite exciting today.

So one day I had the idea of writing a story about a boy who has the same dream and who even pretends to be an adult. Where I got this idea? In Venice, of course. Where else? And so the story is set in this wonderful and mysterious town. Venice is an enchanted place, but it is also very real.

It's nothing like Hogwarts or Middle Earth, because you too can travel to Venice. You can touch it, smell it, and taste it. I wanted children to know that such a place really exists in this world and that the real world can be just as enchanting as our beloved fantasy worlds. Bo greatly admires Scipio.

It is presumed when Scipio's guilt was revealed this feeling changed. Victor is a dear friend to Bo and is always there for him. He is in a somewhat way like a father to Bo. Cornelia Funke Wiki Explore. Inkheart Inkspell Inkdeath. Reckless Fearless Heartless. Worlds Inkworld Mirrorworld. Recent blog posts Forum Recent Changes.

Date: Sept. Publisher: International Literacy Association. Document Type: Book review; Children's review; Young adult review. Length: 1, words. Translate Article. Set Interface Language. His apparent cruelty still takes a terrible toll on his son hide spoiler ]. Sex : Absolutely nothing. Language : Squeaky clean. Substance Abuse : Ida smokes. Nightmare Fuel : view spoiler [The legendary magical item on the Isola Segreta turns out to be an enchanted carousel—ride the Lion of St.

The Comte and his sister, who appear emotionally frozen at about age nine, ride the winged lion until their bodies match their childish minds. Barbarossa wants to be a young adult again, but loses the machine and emerges a sniveling five-year-old.

Conclusions The Thief Lord features a strong atmosphere, a fascinating supernatural element, and an intriguing title character. A Venetian setting will always make a book interesting. In The Thief Lord , the setting is a character, and this definitely works in its favor.

The movie theater where the kids live is like Venice itself in miniature: ancient, grimy, secretive, and somehow still starry and magical. Scipio fits into this environment seamlessly for most of the story. Yet like all characters who wear a mask, we know that he struggles with self-loathing, and the part of his life hidden from his friends is probably highly disagreeable.

These wishes, in myths and fairytales, tend to backfire spectacularly on the wisher. This whole theme of youth and age is pretty deep. His punishment is pure nightmare fuel, but fitting. I just wish that the first half of the book had featured these themes, and the element of magic. As is, the first half was mostly Victor donning bad disguises, walking into obvious set-ups, and fussing over his tortoises.

I found Victor adorable, by himself and with his perfect match, Ida. But starting the book off like that makes it seem goofier and lower-stakes than I think Funke intended. The magical element also sprang up out of nowhere, without even a hint. All we needed was a brief flicker of it—one of the St. The way it was executed, it was jarring—like if the Baudelaire kids in A Series of Unfortunate Events had learned that that Sugar Bowl everyone was fighting over could make its owner invisible.

The kids, Bo and Mosca largely excepted, are all rotten to Victor when they first meet him—much more rotten than their situation actually requires. I had this problem with Inkheart , too—even the usually good kids have many moments of being startlingly bratty. This book is harmless fun. It flew by and kept me up late turning pages. I think many of you will like it too. View all 7 comments. View 1 comment.

Sep 30, Jonathan Terrington rated it it was amazing Shelves: fantasy , favourites , childhood-book , children-s-literature. I've read more books than I remember. From the classy literature books the classics to the crummy excuses of children's novels thrown into the public libraries to con young readers into believing that they possess quality my reading has been deep and varied.

Yet there are some novels I read as a child that impacted me enough to cause me to read them over again. The Thief Lord is one of those books. What is The Thief Lord? It is a fantasy tale and an adventure story combined and set in modern Ve I've read more books than I remember. It is a fantasy tale and an adventure story combined and set in modern Venice. The story follows two brothers who have run away to Venice and end up in the company of a group of juvenile thieves living in an abandoned cinema.

At least they appear to be thieves to begin with. As one reads on one realises that perhaps these thieves are not quite the rogues they would have you believe. Which all leads into the job they are asked to do with their leader, the masked Thief Lord, at their head. They are asked to recover a magical artefact for a particular rich individual with no proper knowledge of what this artefact could do.

The assignment and the squabbles within the group, added to the hidden secret of the Thief Lord lead to a fascinating conclusion. This book, as I reflect, is essentially about the idea of empowerment as linked to age. The children within this book feel entrapped by the very fact that they are minors within society. In order to gain power the two brothers run away and the group of thieves hide out in the abandoned cinema away from the confines of the law.

Hence the book proposes that children are far more capable than society seems to realise and that at times laws designed to protect appear to entangle. This is one of those children's novels I would recommend for future generations as a fun and interesting fairytale type of novel.

Would I go back and re-read it? Probably not at this stage as I would not want to ruin the childhood magic of this novel. Dec 09, Tamlynn rated it liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I like fantasy, thats not the problem. But the ordinary people are supposed to discover the magic at the beginning of the book. You know, the children run through a mysterious old house in the country, hide in a wardrobe, and bam!

I was adoring this book until that point. View all 13 comments. It was published in Germany in and translated into English by Oliver Latsch in for The Chicken House, a division of Scholastic publishing company. It was also adapted into a film in They are taken in by a group of street children who live in an abandoned movie theater - the Stella, and are led by a proud orphan named Scipio.

He appears to steal valuables and the orphan group sells them to a sly shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa. A customer of Barbarossa, calling himself the Conte, asks the "Thief Lord" to steal a wooden lion's wing for him. The runaway boys' aunt and uncle figure out where they are and set a detective, Victor Getz, on their trail. Victor recognizes the boys on the street and manages to initiate a conversation with innocent little Bo.

Bo accidentally lets slip that he lives in an old movie theater. When the rest of the children see Victor, they cause a distraction and run away, taking his wallet with them. In his search for the theater, Victor visits the home of Dottor Massimo, the owner of the Stella, where he sees Scipio, who is actually the son of the rich Dottore. Set in contemporary Venice around the time of both answering machines and cell phones , this is not exactly what I expected, which was a historical fantasy with lighthearted, adventurous thieving in it.

What I got was a more realistic tale of runaways and orphans trying to make it in a contemporary city. Still, bonus points for Venice! There was a little bit of thieving, but it was more desperate, the group of kids scraping by while living in an abandoned movie theater. It was sad, but heartwarm Set in contemporary Venice around the time of both answering machines and cell phones , this is not exactly what I expected, which was a historical fantasy with lighthearted, adventurous thieving in it.

It was sad, but heartwarming as well because of the friendships that they found. It honestly took me a while to warm up to it, until the second half when the focus shifted away from their sparse lives and into more of an adventure - what I'd been expecting in the first place. There's a little bit of magic to it towards the end, enough to shake things up. There's payback that doesn't end up being malicious, and wishes coming true that end up not being quite what was hoped for. That made a bittersweet ending for some of the characters, and an arguably happy one for others, whether they deserved it or not.

I like how it wasn't all black and white. One drawback for me is that it was told in a very juvenile tone - it's definitely for middle grade readers. That, and some of the word choices in the translation didn't fit and were distracting for example, "darn it" was used a lot.

I'd probably give it 2 stars, given how much I don't usually enjoy contemporary, realistic stories. But it was good for its target age group, and I probably would have loved it when I was younger, so I'm bumping it up a star. Shelves: childrensbooks , fantasy. It's a great fantasy: Let's run away to Venice, and hide out in an old movie theater.

We can dye our hair blonde, so no one will ever find us! Basil E. Frankweiler , with siblings running away to a place stuffed with antiquities, and getting mixed up in an art mystery. I guess Victor the detective must have the Mrs. Frankweiler role. I didn't expect the touch of fantasy at the end. I'd love to read a sequel to find out what ha It's a great fantasy: Let's run away to Venice, and hide out in an old movie theater. I'd love to read a sequel to find out what happened to the Thief Lord.

Aug 19, Peter added it Shelves: tutoring. Book of the Year Awards Is it unsympathetic of me to think that this book is How reductive should authors of children's lit be? I've been working with a young student this summer, and The Thief Lord , by Cornelia Funke, is a big favorite on the sixth grade circuit. This particular boy had chosen it for summer reading, and so I picked up a copy for myself. Billed as a "fantastical journey" through "the magical underworld of Venice, Italy", The Thief Lord follows a pair of orphaned boys on the run from their condescending aunt.

They survive with the help of a small gang of children run by one boy, Scipio, who takes on the titular moniker. Trouble comes their way, though, as the boys' aunt hires a detective to track them down and as the gang discovers a secret that their leader has been hiding. Ok: Venice, gangs of child thieves, possessive relatives on the prowl Prime fixin's for a romantic vision; sounds like the makings of a Dickensian tale.

But as the story reveals itself--strict, impatient fathers; detectives with fake moustaches; grumpy shopkeepers--the more cliche and the less compelling it becomes. The Thief Lord doesn't run too deep. It's a fun tale that takes the reader through modern day Venice, and it seems to begin and end there: a fun tale.

Well, a fun tale for kids. Everyone acts like children in this novel. Even the grumpy grown-ups. Especially the grumpy grown-ups. Even as a cultural piece Venice! Aside from a few choice phrases in Italian, Funke doesn't take advantage of the opportunity to educate her readers young and old the way she could. The novel bounces from piazza to ponte, but everything--settings, characters, etc..