The Thief Lord Lesson Plan
A great lesson for upper Elementary/Middle school
A great book, a good movie, and a wonderful lesson plan.
Here is a good lesson plan using the book The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, and the movie version of the same story. This book is recommended for grades 4-8, but a precocious 3rd grader could handle it.
Cornelia Funke is a very popular author, writing such books as Dragon Rider, Inkheart, and Inkspell. Her book, The Thief Lord, is a story of -year-old Prosper and his younger brother, Bo. After the boys lose both parents, their rich and mean aunt and uncle take Bo to raise on their own. Prosper flees with Bo to the city of Venice, a city their mother loved. There they meet the mysterious Thief Lord, and are taken into his band of unwanted children. However, the Thief Lord has his own secrets to hide. Together, all the children unravel a magical mystery and search for safety and a place to belong.
Lesson Plan
1. Read the book, The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.
2. Write a book report on The Thief Lord. You can set whatever guidelines you desire for the book report. In our house, my son had to write the book title, author, setting, main characters, and a brief summary. Here are a couple of websites that give ideas for how to go about making a book report. Scholastic site, is a good site. So is Lakewoo Public Library's site.
3. Watch the movie, The Thief Lord. This movie is rated PG, and does have some language.
4. Discuss the differences between the book and the movie. What things were similar? What things were different?
5. Have your child write a report comparing and contrasting the book and the movie. This can be quite helpful, as many movies are made from books. Movies are often different from books, and movies often leave out chunks of the story.
6. Discuss questions about the story. Here are some great questions, which can be found on the Multnomah County Library, in conjunction with Oregon State Library.
7. Optional - The setting for this book is the beautiful city of Venice, Italy. Study Venice, its history, its art, and the problem the city has with its instability in the water. Read the article "Venice: Italy's City on Water" by Barbara Rogers. Check out Travel for Kids or PBS's Nova's site on the program, "The Sinking City of Venice", or the BBC News article on the sinking of Venice. Or, do your own research! There is a lot out there.
Most of all, have fun!
