Back cover copy:

A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's . . . Dodger.

Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl—not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.

From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world.

Main description:

Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett's Dodger, a Printz Honor Book, combines high comedy with deep wisdom in a tale of one remarkable boy's rise in a fantasy-infused Victorian London.

Seventeen-year-old Dodger is content as a sewer scavenger. But he enters a new world when he rescues a young girl from a beating, and her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.

From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd, to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

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“A masterwork from a treasure and hero of a writer, and it will delight you.”

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“Compulsively readable.”

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“Ebullient, funny and delightful.”

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“Fresh, vibrant and full of energy, a triumph.”

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“Fun and fantastic and thoughtful.”

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“It’s a glittering conjuring act, but there’s real heart here, too.”

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“Lovingly crafted and completely enjoyable. The temptation to quote sentences, whole paragraphs, and possibly entire chapters is almost irresistible.”

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“Masterful. Unexpected, drily funny and full of the pathos and wonder of life: Don’t miss it.”

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“Masterly and entertaining.” (Children’s Book of the Week)

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“Moving and highly satisfactory.”

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“Passionately wise, spectacularly hilarious, and surpassingly humane.”

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“Pratchett combines gut-busting humor and genuine poignancy.”

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“Pratchett does a bang-up job of re-creating Old London, complete with pathos, humor, and danger, all narrated in Dodger’s unique voice.”

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“Pratchett weaves fact and fiction seamlessly....Genius.”

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“Superb.”

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“Thrilling, humorous, moving, and most wise.”

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“Wonderful.”

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PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF TERRY PRATCHETT:“Exuberant and irresistible.”