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Gr 6-8 A popular German author makes a strong English-language debut with this tale of a group of orphaned and fugitive children trying to eke out a furtive existence on the watery "streets" of modern Venice. Funke brings together a large but not indigestible array of adults and children, several of whom, thanks to a bit of magic near the end, switch roles. To keep from being separated after their parents' death, young Prosper spirits ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

The story opens with a solitary bachelor detective, Victor, accepting a commission to find two runaway brothers: Prosper, the older boy (who is not wanted); and Boniface, or Bo, who looks like an angel and is therefore dear to his childless (and humorless) aunt. The brothers have run away to Venice to avoid being separated and are living with a gang of thieving orphans presided over by the boyish, cocky Thief Lord. As Victor's sympathies begin to shift from the aunt to the brothers, the gang of thieves becomes entangled in a caper that involves stealing a woo...Log In or Sign Up to Read More