Download or read book A Bandit's Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket written by Deborah Hopkinson and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an award-winning author of historical fiction comes a story of survival, crime, adventure, and horses in the streets of 19th century New York City. Eleven-year-old Rocco is an Italian immigrant who finds himself alone in New York City after he's sold to a padrone by his poverty-stricken parents. While working as a street musician, he meets the boys of the infamous Bandits' Roost, who teach him the art of pickpocketing. Rocco embraces his new life of crime—he's good at it, and it's more lucrative than banging a triangle on the street corner. But when he meets Meddlin' Mary, a strong-hearted Irish girl who's determined to help the horses of New York City, things begin to change. Rocco begins to reexamine his life—and take his future into his own hands.