Smith: The Story of a Pickpocket

by Leon Garfield

Book Overview

A Dickensian tale of a child thief caught in the middle of evil forces. Kids who love adventure, history, and a strong protagonist will love this middle-grade classic and Carnegie Medal-winning book.

Twelve-year-old Smith is a denizen of the mean streets of eighteenth-century London, living hand to mouth by virtue of wit and pluck. One day he trails an old gentleman with a bulging pocket, deftly picks it, and as footsteps ring out from...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590176758
• ISBN13: 9781590176757
• Release Date: October 2013
• Publisher: New York Review of Books
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Ingenious Work of YA Fiction

Smith by Leon Garfield is, with the exception of Catherine Webb's the Dream Thief, the best YA novel I have read this year. I have often heard it spoken of by experts in the field of Children's Literature and I had been desperate to read it for awhile. I did, however, wait until it was just turning into fall, `til the chill was creeping in, the leaves changing and the clouds hanging grey and lugubriously low in the sky. I was well-rewarded for my attention to atmosphere. Set in a gritty and fascinating maze of Victorian London, the story involves Smith: a beguiling pickpocket who witnesses a murder and retrieves from the victim a document he knows must be of infinite importance. Smith takes the document and holds it close to his heart--- he is desperate to uncover its worth and why it led to tragedy and determines to solve the case--- only problem is: Smith is illiterate. So begins this gruff but compassionate boys quest to Learn to Read. Smith pops in and out of alleys and corners and nooks asking all of the local roundabouts: from magistrates to priests to those holed in the damply decrepit Newgate to Learn Him to Read. When a fateful encounter with a blind judge changes Smith's life, Smith learns ever so much about justice, humanity and the mysteries of life beyond the horrors of the street. Unexpected heroism, betrayal and plot turns--- as well as a dollop of heart and feel-good-ness permeate each spectacularly-written page. The writing is what most stands out about this book. It is chockfull of consonance, alliteration, symmetry, symbolism, analogies and descriptive paragraphs so delicious they will loll on your tongue for days. The closest comparison I can think of to the painstaking attention placed to the writing and rhythm ---as well as the dark evocation of London --- is Catherine Webb's Horatio Lyle series ( which everyone knows as my favourite YA series ever). Thus, I encourage everyone to pick up a copy. Published in the late 1960s and a Carnegie Medal book, libraries and used bookstores will be a good place to find it.

Great historical fiction

Smith grabbed my attention from the first page. Immediately, I was drawn into Victorian England as Smith, a pickpocket, snatches something from an old man and then watches the old man get murdered. From that point on, Smith is on the run. His adventures through the streets of London kept me reading at a furious pace. I think kids will love it!

A generic name. A unique and amazing story.

Here's a fun game for you to play. Walk up to your local children's librarian. Comment idly on the weather, the news, the local sports team, etc. Banter. Then, when the moment presents itself, slyly drop the name of Leon Garfield. If you're dealing with a librarian that knows their chops and has, in the course of their work, come across this most magnificent author, you're bound you be treated to an extended dialogue regarding the most noble qualities of that fine and outstanding writer. If, on the other hand, you are dealing with an amateur fan of kiddie lit who's knowledge extends only so far as the latest "Magic Treehouse" offering, you may not garner much of a response. Pity them, in such a case, for Leon Garfield is one of those writers that restore your faith in the beauty of children's literature (especially after reading the aforementioned "Magic Treehouse"). If you don't know where to start in the Garfield oeuvre, I recommend the eclectic, "Smith". Winner of a Phoenix Award (given to those great works of children's literature that are gone but not forgotten), the book has been republished relatively recently and is well worth your perusal. If you haven't read this book, you're in for treat. Picture yourself in Victorian England. Better yet, picture Smith there. He's a twelve-year-old ragamuffin with a penchant for picking ample sized pockets. Living by his wits (and in the care of his two elder seamstress sisters), Smith leads a relatively happy life. That is, until he picks the pocket of a soon-to-be-dead man. With a piece of parchment in his hand that is the sole reason the old man was killed, Smith must learn to read and unravel the paper's mystery. Along the way he'll be hunted, jailed, frozen, and taken under a blind man's wing. Smith runs, jumps, and skips from one desperate situation to another. By the book's finale the reader is so thoroughly engrossed that Smith's adventures seem to burst off the page. You've never rooted for a gamin quite as plucky (or snarky) as Smith. And you probably never will again. There's one word that pops into the brain when you read "Smith": Dickensian. If you've a kid that you want to lure into the world of Charles Dickens and you've exhausted your "A Christmas Carol" resources, consider "Smith" to be a book in the same vein. The character of Smith himself is almost the anti-Oliver Twist. For where Oliver was a pale saintly little urchin who detested his underworld companions, Smith's more along the lines of the Artful Dodger. A pickpocket by trade, he rubs shoulders with some of the dingiest characters imaginable. Everyone from highwaymen to the upper crust of the debtor's prison. Leon Garfield conjures up a remarkably lifelike England of old. You see the dirt that encrusts little Smith. You smell the rank streets and unwashed masses. His prose is at some times remarkably beautiful. Consider this sentence that describes a lonely graveyard: "Still and silent was the

A great book, very well writen

This book is a fantastic book full of murder, chase scenes a some humor. This book about Smith a pickpocket puts you right with him, watching him pickpocketing or being creamed in the face. Simply marvelous book one of the better oones I have read in a long time. You can't go wrong with this book.

A great story, it gives you front row seats to Smith's life.

This story is about a 12 year old pickpocket living in the middle of London. He is a well accomplished pickpocket - it is his only way to survive the rigours of life. Then one day he empties the pockets of a gentleman and finds himself caught up in a all sorts of trouble. He witnesses murder, betrayal and lots more of the London underworld. This book is extremely well written and portrays vivid images of the London underworld. A great read