A.R. Book Level: 4.5
A.R. Points: 15.0
Pages: 391
At
almost 400 pages, this book is enormous, and I’ll be the first to say that the story’s
not usually fast-paced or exciting. It’s
a long book, a slow-reading book, and a book that is very subtle as it
gradually unfolds the plot. That being
said, if you’re willing to commit the time and effort to reading this, it will
be well worth it. Set sometime during
the industrial revolution, this is the intertwining story of three unfortunate
kids: Giuseppe, a boy forced to earn money by playing music in the street;
Frederick, an orphan who aspires to become a great clockmaker; and Hannah, a
girl who must work to support her family since her father had a stroke. If you liked the automaton in Brian
Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret or the idea of kids on the wrong
side of the law in Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord, and you’re ready for
a more challenging book, this is the one for you.