A Bandit's Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket by Deborah Hopkinson

Rocco brings shame on his family by refusing to tell who stole the money and taking the blame himself.  His father ends up sending him away with a man who takes him to America.  He'll send the parents some money each year for the boy's service.  The problem is that the service he wants is begging...

This post is part of the Bandit Blog Tour that Provato Events is putting on.  Knopf Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It was be published April 5th.  For other stops on the Bandit Blog tour, please check HERE.

Rocco doesn't get enough to eat, sleeps on the floor with no blankets and is part of a group of young boys who are supposed to play music and get donations.  No one has much to donate and most of them don't know how to pay an instrument.  It's a place where all the money must be turned in to the man who took him.  If not, you get beat.  It's ugly place, there's only a bath once a month.  It's no life for anyone, especially not Rocco.

Unfortunately, Rocco meets the Prince of the Bandits and finds himself learning how to help pickpockets.  He gets a bit of money for that but not what he would get if he did it himself.  He decides to try and ends up in jail.

The best part of this story is Rocco developing as he goes along.  He makes bad decisions and has to live with them but he learns things about himself on the way.  He even finally makes the right decisions at the end.

For a boy without hope, he has a sparkling future by the end of the book.  Just keep trying, Rocco!