Rating: 
Summary: A Warm and Delightful Tale
Review: Twelve-year-old Prosper and his five-year-old brother Bo (Boniface) are orphans who want to stay together, but their aunt Esther Hartlieb, into whose custody they were supposed to pass, wants to keep Bo, but place Prosper in an orphanage. So the boys leave their home town of Hamburg, Germany, and make their way to Venice, Italy, where they are taken in by Hornet, a Venice street girl about Prosper's age, who lives in an abandoned movie theater with two street boys, Riccio and Mosca. The five kids are watched over by Scipio, the Thief Lord, who is also about their age, but who doesn't sleep in the theater with them. None of the children know where the Thief Lord does sleep. Aunt Esther and uncle Max hire Victor, a private detective, who soon finds the kids, and also discovers the Thief Lord's real identity, but by this time Esther and Max have left town, so he doesn't get to tell them right away. This is a love story on several levels; not just of the brotherly love between Prosper and Bo, but also the love of Renzo and Morosina; the love of Scipio and Hornet for the other children; the love of Ida Spavento for all children; and some others I won't mention lest I give away too much. Most of the major characters are complex and interesting enough for an adult reader to enjoy. If you are a parent of pre-teens, this would be a good story to read to them.
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