In the novel, Museum of Thieves, by Lian Tanner, published by Delacorte Press in 2010, the fictional story takes place in a city named Jewel. In this city, innocence is nurtured by abusive caretakers, and the freedom of adolescents is stripped away from them, displaying the dangers of suppressing the unique identity of every child. This book explores the results of overprotecting children and never allowing them to find an identity of their own. In fact, this idea was represented through the main character, Goldie Roth, and her desire to be free of these limitations. Every child in the city of Jewel must wear silver guard chains until they reach the age of 12 and they must be followed by an adult at all times, whether it be their caretakers, who are called Blessed Guardians, or their parents. Once they are 12, a ceremony, called Separation Day, is held to formally rid them of their chains and Blessed Guardians. Unfortunately, on Separation Day, right as Goldie was about to be released, Jewel was attacked, causing the leader of Jewel to postpone the separation for a few more years until the attack was resolved and sorted out. On the other hand, Goldie could not wait any longer and decided to run away from her abusive and oppressed life. In her panic, Goldie was lured to the Museum of Dunt. From the museum’s keepers, Goldie learned of the museum’s ability to shift rooms and also the horror that lay deep within the Museum. With the leader of the Blessed Guardians, the Fugleman, pressuring the city of Jewel into an even more oppressive life, the museum becomes restless and slowly pushes the horrors of Jewel’s past back into the world. As a result, Goldie must stop the Fugleman before the Museum unleashes Jewel’s dark past into the world and ultimately kills everyone. Overall, the book was highly entertaining throughout the entire story. Each chapter had exciting events to keep the story fast-paced and captivating. In addition, the book had a major plot twist in the story that made me go back and reread the entire chapter, but with a different perspective. Each page motivated me to flip another and each chapter ended with a cliffhanger that motivated me to read another chapter. I agree with Lian’s Tanner opinion about Goldie being forced to grow up. This novel was very good at exploring the dangers and downsides of always protecting your children. It shows the motivation it gives children to rebel and ultimately shows that protecting your children too much can be worse than protecting your children at all. The book thoroughly explores this situation, also displaying the dangers of rebelling and going outside the protection of adults. However, the book does forget to include the love of a parent and his/her willingness to search for his/her child. Throughout the entire book, Goldie’s parents never searched for her, only the Blessed Guardians. One can see a similar opinion with William Shakespeare as well. Because of Lord Capulet’s control over Juliet, she was forced to hide secrets from her family and do things behind their backs. All in all, for me, the book revealed a new perspective on parenting. It has further reinforced my belief against overprotective parenting. This idea has taught me the ideal method of parenting and the impacts of bad parenting. All in all, the book tied together all of its events very neatly. It taught the importance of parenting and showed readers the impact it has on one's life. Even though it was not able to show the actions of a parent, the book was still able to show the same effect through the actions of the Blessed Guardians. My advice for potential readers is to read the book very carefully. Lian Tanner foreshadows the book in very subtle details that is sure to keep readers lost in the city of Jewel.
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