Deborah Hopkinson

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.