The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke is a special fantasy novel to many fifth grade readers at Patrick M. Villano School. It’s one of the books offered during book clubs in Breanne DeCarlo’s reading class. The book is about two orphans named Prosper and Boniface who run away to Italy. The orphans meet up with a group of young theives led by a teenager called Scipio. They go on many adventures which lead them to a magical merry-go-round. DeCarlo points out the most exciting part of the novel.
“The climax is the climax because we see Scipio turning into the adult that he’s longed to be throughout the story,” DeCarlo said.
DeCarlo teaches a fantasy story element unit using The Thief Lord. Rather than writing a book report, students create a project.
“I love that students have an opportunity to show off what they understood from the story and its story elements as well as be creative, so I think the cell phone book club project is a great way for them to be creative but also take a close look at the story elements,” DeCarlo said.
Themes of family, friendship, and trust are woven throughout the pages of the book. Nick Benvenuto, a fifth-grade reader, enjoyed the novel and the project.
“My favorite character is Scipio, and I like how he doesn’t want to be bossed around by his parents, and I can relate to that,” Benevenuto said. “I thought that the cellphone art project was not too hard. It just required a lot of time and effort. I reminded myself not to quit when a sentence was too long for my comfort.”
Elisabeth Hill, a fifth grade math teacher, really enjoyed the book’s setting.
“Instead of having a favorite character, I loved how Cornelia Funke used Venice, Italy as the setting. I have been lucky enough to travel to Venice, and the author made Venice seem as magical, beautiful, and enchanting in this story as it does in real life,” Hill said.
Noah Justo, another fifth-grade reader, liked the book, too.
“My favorite character is probably Prosper because he’s a good brother, is mature, and acts like an adult,” Justo said. “My favorite part about book clubs is how we shared ideas about the book and compare to make a text.”
A film version of the book was made in 2006. Funke also wrote the popular novel called Inkheart which is another favorite among fifth grade readers.
