num_pages: 229
description: "Leon Garfield is unmatched for sheer, exciting storytelling." --Lloyd AlexanderThis brilliant, picaresque novel follows the adventures of an illiterate young ragamuffin known only as Smith. Smith picks the pocket of a stranger, only to witness immediately the strangers murder. Smiths booty from the theft is an Important Document, no doubt worth quite a lot to somebody, which is proved by the pursuit of Smith by two very shady characters. Smith artfully dodges them and winds up in the odd company of a wealthy blind man, who takes Smith into his home and provides him with an education. But this new comfort is lost when Smith himself is suspected of the very murder he witnessed. Smith was a Boston Globe--Horn Book Honor Book, winner of the Phoenix Award, and a Carnegie Honor Book.
language: English
title: Smith
titlecomplete: Smith
genres: Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Juvenile, Adventure, Historical, Young Adult, Mystery
ratings_count: 922
places: London, England
awards: awardedAt: 536486400000
name: Phoenix Award (Children's Literature Association), awardedAt: -63129600000
name: Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Puffin