The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke is a fantastic story about children who live in underground Venice, alone, and find a way to survive. As many novels and stories are, it is full of examples of literary elements.

The easiest of these to find is imagery, because imagery is everywhere. Imagery appeals to each of the five senses: sight, taste, smell, touch, and sound. Reading imagery, the reader can feel the same as the characters do, even placing themselves in the action. See the following example:

A water rat scuttled away as the children felt their way along the narrow passage. It led to a canal, like many of Venice's alleys and passages.

The reader can visualize and hear the rat while also experiencing the narrowness of the passage. In addition, the canal can lead to feelings of dampness and cold. Sometimes imagery leads to mood. Mood is how the overall description of the setting makes the reader feel emotionally. For example, the reader may feel claustrophobic, chilly, and uncomfortable based upon these images.

In the next piece of text, Bo is waiting for his secret knock to be answered.

Do you see these bags in my hands, Hedgehog? I just dragged them all the way from the Rialto market. My arms are as long as a monkey's, so open the door!

The reader can sense his impatience and understand his point through his use of a simile—a comparison between two things using the words "like" or "as." By saying his arms are stretched long like a monkey's arms, Bo is emphasizing the length of time he has been carrying the heavy bags and waiting for entrance.

Authors often use personification to give life to inanimate objects, which works especially well in a magical setting like Venice. For example, in describing the city, the narrator notes that

Surely no other place on earth was more proud of its beauty than Venice, and as he watched the spires and domes, each caught the sun as if trying to outshine one another.

The tops of buildings and cathedrals are inanimate, yet they are given the quality of human life in suggesting that they may be competing for the people's attention.

Of course, these are not nearly all the literary devices you might find in The Thief Lord. As you read, you will find examples like these and others on nearly every page!