Boniface Schroll is slowly adjusting to life with his uncle in Graab, a small German town in the Black Forest. His uncle, the town mayor, is kind enough and he runs an amusingly efficient household, but he is not the sort of man who is easy with his feelings. Boniface is also making a friend, Christian, an unusual boy who draws the schoolmaster's wrath with his quiet defiance of authority. Boniface discovers that Christian is the son of the Robber Knapp, whose nefarious reputation among many in the village far outweighs the severity of the crime that earned him his name: he was accused of stealing to feed his family. Boniface, whose own father died a year-and-a-half before, is intrigued by the warm, respectful relationship he witnesses between Robber Knapp and his son. Is this man really a criminal? When Robber Knapp is accused of stealing yet again, Boniface realizes that he alone can prove him innocent. Boniface starts a chain of events that impact life for the entire village, his own most certainly of all, in this in this charming novel set in 19th century Germany. Author Joseph Holub's skillful, witty characterizations of village characters and village life, as well the sweet tenor of a narrative that unfolds entirely through Boniface's naive eyes, distinguishes a story told with humor and poignancy about a young boy's longing for a place to belong, a family. (Ages 10-13) Winner, CCBC Batchelder Award Discussion

In a remote cornor of the forests of Germany lies the small farming village of Graab. When young Boniface Schroll, a shy orphan, is abandoned in the forest late one night, a mysterious man in a big black hat comes to his rescue. Or at least that's what Boniface thinks when he wakes up the next morning at this Uncle Emil's house.As Boniface adjusts to his new surroundings, he begins to feel that Graab could become his true home, despite Uncle Emil's stern exterior and the schoolmaster's cruel ways. But when a series of holdups are committed by a man wearing a big black hat, Boniface is forced to make the most important decision of his life. Can he tell his uncle what he knows before time runs out for the man who helped him out of the forest? And more, importantly, will confronting Uncle Emil with the truth separate Boniface from his new family or transform him into the real son he longs to become?