Danielle U's response to the Thief Lord

The Thief Lord was an amazing book. I couldn't seem to put it down. Every free moment I had I was pulling out this book and reading. For someone who is not a big reader I couldn't believe how much I liked it and was continusly wanting to know more and see what happens next. This would be a book that I would without a doubt use in my classroom. I just feel that the students would really enjoy reading it and get lost in wanting to know what happens next. One thing that I particularly liked were many of the different issues that were brought up in this book that children at a 5th grade level are dealing with. Some that stick out in my mind are stealing, lying, and running away. These were three issues that reacuured throughout the entire book. I think it provides the teacher with an excellenct opening into asking students why learning about these things are important. It also provides consequences to their actions which is a great way to show and talk with students about how if they were to do these things what are some of the consequences they would face. I know that in 5th grade curious minds start to wonder about and actually do these things. I am sure the first time I probobly thought about running away was in 5th grade after a fight with my mom or something. They are logical issues and I really loved that about the book. Another thing that I found quite interesting was the characters. Each cahracter in this book was unique and different. Funke did a really good job at developing each character and really expressing to the reader who they were, their strenghts and weaknesses. I really enjoyed the diversity among the characters. I think that this allows more students to relate and connect with at least one character. When you have such well developed characters you can't help but find a connection which I think is really important for a young reader. If they can't engage themselves then they might not really find the book interesting or want to read it. Where as in this case there was a wide variety of characters from children to adults. Funke did a fantastic job with the story line. It was compelling and had many twist and turns that you weren't expecting. It seemed like just when the children couldn't have another adventure, here it came with just as much mystery and excitement as the first one. I would read this book again and again and I can't wait to introduce this wonderful adventure to other students.