The Good Thieves

June 15, 2019
A Prohibition-era child enlists a gifted pickpocket and a pair of budding circus performers in a clever ruse to save her ancestral home from being stolen by developers. Rundell sets her iron-jawed protagonist on a seemingly impossible quest: to break into the ramshackle Hudson River castle from which her grieving grandfather has been abruptly evicted by unscrupulous con man Victor Sorrotore and recover a fabulously valuable hidden emerald. Laying out an elaborate scheme in a notebook that itself turns out to be an integral part of the ensuing caper, Vita, only slowed by a bout with polio years before, enlists a team of helpers. Silk, a light-fingered orphan, aspiring aerialist Samuel Kawadza, and Arkady, a Russian lad with a remarkable affinity for and with animals, all join her in a series of expeditions, mostly nocturnal, through and under Manhattan. The city never comes to life the way the human characters do (Vita, for instance, "had six kinds of smile, and five of them were real") but often does have a tangible presence, and notwithstanding Vita's encounter with a (rather anachronistically styled) "Latina" librarian, period attitudes toward race and class are convincingly drawn. Vita, Silk, and Arkady all present white; Samuel, a Shona immigrant from Southern Rhodesia, is the only primary character of color. Santoso's vignettes of, mostly, animals and small items add occasional visual grace notes. Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure. (Historical fiction. 11-13)

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Starred review from June 24, 2019
After a swindling Prohibition-era robber baron cheats Vita’s grandfather out of his crumbling family castle on the Hudson River, she and her mother sail from England to assist him. Vita, who developed keen throwing skills during a bout of polio, greets New York City “as
a boxer greets an opponent before a fight.” Left to her own devices, she meets three talented children: Silk, a pickpocket, and two burgeoning circus performers who live in Carnegie Hall. Russian Arkady is deeply in tune with animals, and Samuel, a boy from Mashonaland, secretly trains as a trapeze artist. To help her grandfather, Vita persuades them to join her in a heist: break into the castle and find an emerald necklace (“large as a lion’s eye”) that belonged to her beloved late grandmother. Rundell hallmarks abound—clever animals and children, themes of autonomy and cruelty (here frequently conveyed via the era’s attitudes about ability and skin color). While the narrative build and heist occasionally succumb to unlikely moments, Rundell’s (The Explorer) subtle telling and her protagonists’ grit culminate in a dazzling tale of wild hope, lingering grief, admirable self-sufficiency, and intergenerational adoration. Ages 8–12.

July 19, 2019

Gr 3-6-Rundell's (Rooftoppers) latest weaves the story of Vita Marlowe and her quest to save her family's livelihood. When Vita and her mother sail from Ireland to New York to aid her grandfather, Vita discovers that he has been swindled out of his castle-esque mansion by a mobster. After many promises to do no such thing, Vita tracks down the greedy Sorrotore, uncovers his malicious real estate schemes, bands together a crew of peers with particular talents, and stages a daring heist to recover an emerald from the mansion. 1920s New York allows for a circus to serve as a secondary setting and plot; the kids not already involved join up in the end after proving their worth. Arkady, the prodigious animal handler, calls out the cruelty inflicted on elephants in the circus. Samuel, an exceptional acrobat and the only primary character of color, encounters issues of acceptance because of his race. Overall, the tale is sweet and hopeful; but, while a heist is inherently exciting, it never quite reaches a breakneck pace or inspires bated breaths. Still, this historical adventure proves to be another enjoyable title from Rundell. VERDICT A lovely story of friendship and adventure. A general purchase for medium and large libraries, and a natural choice wherever Rundell's other books fly off the shelves.-Taylor Worley, Springfield Public Library, OR

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019
Grades 3-6 Rundell (The Explorer, 2017) imparts her childlike sense of wonder to her latest novel, a caper set in 1920s Manhattan, populated by gangsters, circus performers, and pickpockets. It's to this intoxicating scene that Vita Marlowe arrives with her mother, in order to move her ailing grandfather to England with them. As Grandpa recounts how conniving Victor Sorrotore tricked him out of his home, Hudson Castle, Vita devises a plan to steal back an emerald necklace hidden there and use it to buy back Hudson Castle. Passionate, intelligent Vita sneaks around the city, undeterred by her painful leg?a polio souvenir?recruiting uniquely talented kids for the execution of her plan. The intrigue and excitement of the heist plot is supported by fantastic historical elements, such as the indoor circus once held in Carnegie Hall. Vita tests her own limits, and readers will thrill at her cleverness, tenacity, and close escapes. For all the high-flying exploits, the narrative is anchored in familial love and the bonds of friendship, rendering it a satisfying read at every level.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)