The Good Thieves
by Katherine Rundell
A polio-footed English girl plots a heist to steal back her grandfather's castle — literary, big-hearted, and thrillingly staged.
The story
When twelve-year-old Vita Marlowe arrives in 1920s New York, she finds her grandfather broken: the American castle he and her grandmother lovingly rebuilt has been stolen by a charming villain with a burnt match in his hand. Vita assembles a crew — an Irish pickpocket, a Russian circus boy who talks to animals, and a runaway Shakespearean — to steal it back. Across speakeasies, sewers, and a hidden emerald at the center of Carnegie Hall, they plan and execute a high-wire caper. Katherine Rundell writes children who act before adults believe them, and prose that treats 1920s New York as a living character.
Age verdict
Best at 10-12. Ambitious 9-year-olds can manage it; 13+ still works if the reader enjoys period adventure.
Our take
the triple-crown literary adventure
What stands out
Each audience's top 3 dimensions. Out of 30 scored per book.
Kids love
- Character voice Exceptional
Vita's close-third voice is arch, stubborn, and specific — 'angry mud' coffee, 'the eyes of a Major General' — and each crew member (Silk's Irish deadpan, Arkady's animal-worship, Samuel's courtly defiance) has a distinct register. Ensemble voice craft at the Wonder/Front Desk tier.
- First-chapter grab Strong
Opens on a 12-year-old girl on a rain-soaked ship, plotting to steal back her grandfather's castle — a concrete wrong and a clear mission in the first three pages. Matches Hatchet-tier instant-engine openings on the benchmark, a shade below Front Desk's twist-at-close first chapter.
Parents love
- Writing quality Exceptional
Sentence-level craft is outstanding: controlled metaphor, precise sensory detail, rhythm tuned chapter-by-chapter, dialogue that carries subtext without naming it. Prose quality in the upper echelon with The Graveyard Book and Bridge to Terabithia.
- Stereotype-breaker Exceptional
Disabled girl protagonist whose foot is neither cured nor a source of pathos; Black boy (Samuel) from a Pullman-porter family who is also a Shakespearean; Russian circus performer as gentle hero. Active counter-typing on par with Front Desk and Wonder.
Teachers love
- Mentor text quality Exceptional
Near-textbook models of close-third POV, metaphor control, ensemble voice differentiation, and flashback-as-reveal (Ch.20). Craft-teaching density alongside The Graveyard Book and Bridge to Terabithia.
- Read-aloud power Strong
Short chapters end on propulsive beats, dialogue has strong distinct voices, and Rundell's rhythmic prose reads well aloud. Read-aloud quality approaches The One and Only Ivan and Wonder, below the legendary oral cadence of Charlotte's Web.
✓ Perfect for
- • Readers who loved Rooftoppers, Wonder, or Esperanza Rising
- • Kids drawn to heists, period adventure, and ensemble crew stories
- • Young readers who want a disabled protagonist whose disability is real without being the plot
- • Families looking for a literary read-aloud with short chapters
Not ideal for
Reluctant readers who need shorter, lighter books; children sensitive to gun threats, adult gaslighting, or a named racial slur; readers who prefer plain prose to literary register.
⚠ Heads up
At a glance
- Pages
- 336
- Chapters
- 26
- Words
- 70k
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- POV
- Third Person Limited
- Illustration
- Sparse
- Published
- 2019
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Illustrator
- Matt Saunders
Mood & style
You'll know it worked when…
Readers finish this one — the chapter endings and ticking-clock heist structure pull them through the literary sentences.
More like this
Same genre, similar age range. Ranked by kid score.
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