The New York Times bestseller How many families have wanted to share this classic poem with even the tiniest children but have hesitated to let them touch a fragile heirloom edition? That's no longer a concern with this sturdy board book. Let the smallest ones climb into a lap or even hold the book themselves with their jelly-stained fingers-they can't hurt it. But they can let illustrator Christian Birmingham fill their heads with his divine imagery.

Two orphaned brothers run away to Venice, where crumbling canals and misty alleyways shelter a secret community of street urchins. The leader of this motley crew of lost children is a clever, charming boy with a dark history of his own: he calls himself the Thief Lord.