The Thief: Part 1

By MEGAN WHALEN TURNER, Illustrator DAVID WATT

I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison. The days were all the same, except that as each one passed, I was dirtier than before.

Every morning the light in the cell changed from the wavering orange of the lamp in the sconce outside my door to the dim but even glow of the sun falling into the prison's central courtyard.

In the evening, as the sunlight faded, I reassured myself that I was one day closer to getting out. To pass the time, I concentrated on pleasant memories, laying them out in order and examining them carefully.

I reviewed over and over the plans that had seemed so straightforward before I arrived in jail, and I swore to myself and every god I knew that if I got out alive, I would never never never take any risks that were so abysmally stupid again.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $14.95

Age group: 11 plus years