She turned and looked at Vita, at her thin hands, at her bloodied elbow. i love this ragtag team of circus performers and pickpockets, and the way they distribute the labor each according to their strengths, even vita, whose contribution, apart from planning, is not immediately apparent:
vita's got maybe a little more empathetic generosity of spirit than seems realistic when it comes to a wounded enemy, but-hey, it's a middle grade book, and i suppose "carrying a full-grown man-villain to safety" is a good lesson in politeness and grace.īecause i love heist narratives a LOT, this is right up there with my former favorite, Rooftoppers. It's a charming and entertaining book with a positive message about family and friendship and teamwork. People do not expect a small girl to be willing to take or inflict pain. she's realistic about what she can and cannot do, but having to endure pain has become something of an asset-it has toughened her up and made her less likely to back down from a fight.
a brush with polio has left her with a twisted leg and in chronic pain, but she refuses to let it slow her down. Vita is a very likable character, stubborn and passionate, shining with determination a courageous girl adhering to her own moral code. Racism can't be cured by black excellence when it's caused by white ignorance. It's age appropriate without being kiddy, she presents diversity without it feeling checklisty and she addresses racism and immigration and economic imbalance in the melting pot of 1920s manhattan in a thoughtful appropriate way that feels natural, while phrasing it perfectly and succinctly: Vita's plan is to sneak into the castle, recover the emerald for her grandfather, and hopefully get his home back as well. It's a historical heist/adventure story about a group of kids from different backgrounds who are corralled and led by the inimitable vita into pooling their specialized skill sets and abilities into a plot to recover an emerald necklace with sentimental/familial-as well as monetary-value from its hiding spot in vita's grandfather's crumbling family manse-the straight up castle whose ownership he's just been hoodwinked out of by a wicked, heartless man. Like the best of her work, this one is tightly plotted, with wholesome-but-authentic characters and a few surprises.
i love her so much that i (almost) want to have a bunch of kids just so i can fill their tiny sticky hands with her books. Fulfilling my 2021 goal to read one book each month by an author i love that i haven’t gotten around to reading yetĪnother PERFECT story by katherine rundell.
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