After having read all 345 pages of The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, I feel as though I know six children really well. Cornelia Funke did a fantastic job of characterization in this novel. She not only developed the characters well, she described them in interesting and different ways. My favorite bit of characterization is describing Esther when Victor is thinking that "her mouth didn't look as if smiling was it's favorite activity."
I liked that this book would raise awareness for children who grow up in middle class or even upper class families. There are millions of children worldwide who have no parents and who have to make a living for themselves by stealing. I know that when I was in fifth or sixth grade, it never occurred to me to think about how my life would be if my parents weren't around and I had to make sure that I had food and shelter all by myself. This was a real eye-opener. There is just one thing that I had a problem with: if these children are shown as being thieves, what lesson does it teach the reader that the kids are rewarded by being given a nice home and a loving guardian?
My favorite character is Victor because he is so dynamic. At the beginning of the story, he is characterized as being somewhat sour and jaded with life. But at the end, he develops feelings for these kids and does what is necessary to make sure that Bo and Prosper were not sent back to their unloving (to say the least) aunt and that Barbarossa got his comeuppance.
I was also impressed in the similarity of the imagery with The Carnival at Candlelight. Even the drawings at the beginning of each chapter seemed to embody the images that had been drawn in my head based on what Mary Pope Osborne had described in The Carnival at Candlelight.
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I think that the final result of the children having a loving guardian is not teaching children that that is a reward for thieving. I think that if all of these children had had better home lives, they would not have resorted to such measures to support themselves. Throughout the book, Prosper hates the fact that he has put Bo in this situation, but he believes that living with these other children, even if they steal to support themselves, is a better alternative than he and his brother being separated. I would hope that fifth grade readers would understand that, but I believe if they do not, that it is our job as their teachers to reiterate that message to them.
I also thought that fifth graders reading this story might see that these children ran away and nothing terrible happened. Sure, they had it rough but they didn't get in all that much trouble with adults after they were found, but I do also believe it would be our job to get that message across that it's not okay to run away.
Good discussion here. Suppose you solicit feedback from the children first; discuss this with students; talk about the characters' goals...why are they stealing? What about other literary characters who have done the same? Any resemblance between Scipio and Robin Hood? Also, think about discussing the consequences for actions. Great point Erin, about the children's home lives. Again, think about the genre of this book?
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