The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

The Thief Lord
by Cornelia Funke
Prosper and Bo are brothers who have been recently orphaned and are living with their grandfather. Their aunt now plans to take Bo away to live with her. Prosper can't let go of his little brother and decides to run away with him so they are not separated. They go to Venice, where they think everything will be magical like their mom told them. However, it is not what Prosper expected and as winter sets in and they are hungry and desperate, they meet Hornet who takes them to the Thief Lord, the most notorious thief in Venice- and he's only 12 years old!  Scipio, a.k.a The Thief Lord, helps a gang of children steal from wealthy houses. Bo and Prosper join him and they all help them to escape the notice of a detective named Victor Getz who has been hired by the aunt to find them. What will happen when Scipio accepts an offer from a mysterious Duke to make a ton of money? Read it and find out!

This fantasy/adventure is set in the city of Venice which is one of the reasons I picked it up to read. I had just visited Venice and had heard about this book from a student. I quite enjoyed the adventure aspect and could visualize the scenes very well as I had been to the city itself and walked along the canals and down dark alleys. 

In 2006 this novel was made into a movie. Unfortunately, I have not seen it, but I did find this movie trailer which might interest the class.
We have a copy in our classroom library of this book and I am sure you will also find it in the MS library.
If you like adventure within a city, this might be "right up your alley"!