The Robber and Me by Josef Holub

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Holub, Joseph. 1996. The Robber and Me. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5599-1

PLOT SUMMARY
Boniface Schroll has been an orphan for a year and a half. He has lived with his aunt who doesn’t know anything about boys. The Orphan Court has decided to send the eleven-year-old to live with his Uncle, the Mayor of Graab. Boniface is left abandoned by the wagon driver in the forest on the way to his new home. He becomes lost in the night and falls asleep exhausted. The Robber finds Boniface and delivers him to the Mayor’s doorstep.

The village has harsh strange rules that are easy to break. The poor finding it the most difficult. If they can’t pay the fine, they are locked in the local jail. The Schoolmaster, a powerful person in Graab, treats the poor children of the community with unjust harshness. Boniface is not to be seen with his new friend Christopher, the son of the accused Robber. When the Robber is accused of even greater crimes, Boniface must give him an alibi. Boniface is worried that the new life in Graab with his Uncle will be lost.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The Robber and Me was given the 1998 Mildred R. Batchelder Award. The author sharesgives an idea of what life was like for people living in Germany in the early 1800’s. It combines mystery with the historical genre of the time. It is an interesting story that is enjoyable for children 7 and up. The author shares the fears and concerns through a child’s eyes. It includes an explanation of the use of vowel combination and a glossary of new words with several in German.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Amazon.com
"I was often afraid," says young Boniface Schroll, the protagonist of Josef Holub's prize-winning novel set in 19th-century Germany. "Sometimes I was afraid of tomorrow, or afraid that I would do something wrong." A city boy and orphan with a funny name and a head of girlish ringlets, Boniface is confronted by those fears when he is sent from the house of a stingy aunt to live with his uncle, the stern but decent mayor of the village of Graab.
Here he sleeps under a thick down comforter and is fattened up and fussed over by his uncle's kindly, maternal maid, Frederika. Nevertheless, he soon realizes that life in Graab is restricted by stifling rules that keep the kids in line at school and the townspeople orderly and fearful of strangers. When Boniface becomes friends with the son of a reputed robber, he fully realizes the small-minded prejudices that oppress the village and becomes entangled in a local mystery. In the end he must risk his comfortable new life in order to tell the truth.
This engaging historical novel, translated from German, won the 1998 Mildred R. Batchelder Award for excellence in children's literature. Older readers will enjoy the fascinating window into life in old-time, small-town Germany, with a short glossary of German and archaic words at the end. An old-fashioned mystery, The Robber and Me is a refreshing change of pace in middle-grade fiction. (Ages 11 and older) --Maria Dolan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Parents' Choice®
Boniface, an eleven-year-old orphan, is shipped off to a neighboring village to live with the mayor, his uncle. Transported by a hired wagon driver, he is unceremoniously dumped in the forest at night where he wanders until he collapses on the verge of unconsciousness. He is rescued by someone he comes to suspect is the locally vilified robber. A thoroughly likable character, Boniface matures in a believable fashion in an old-fashioned setting - rural Germany in 1867. A 1998 Parents' Choice® Silver Honor.
Reviewed by Kemie Nix, Parents' Choice® 1998 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

CONNECTIONS
* Josef Holub. 2007. Innocent Soldier. ISBN-10: 0439627729
* Gloria Whelan. 2004. The Impossible Journey. ISBN-10: 0064410838
Talk about the immigration to America and share a map of Germany and the route to America.