Peppe The Lamplighter

Bartone, Elisa

Lewin, Ted

Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1993

Picturebook, multicultural, Historical Fiction

Caldecott Honor

3-5

This book is about a young boy Peppe, who moved to America from Italy. His father was very sick and his mother and died. He had eight sisters who needed to be taken care of so he desperately tried to find a job. He went all over town from the butcher shop, to the cigar maker. One day he met a man named Domenico who was a lamplighter. Domenico was going out of town and told Peppe that he could fill in for him for the time being. Peppes father was very angry at him and said that he was ashamed that his son would do such a job. But Peppe was so proud of himself, he wanted to make money to support his family. One night Peppes father had yelled at him so bad that he stopped doing his job. He did not want his father to be angry at him. His sister, Assunta, had not come home yet. Peppe's father told him to go out and to light the lamp posts so that there would be light. Eventually he found Assunta sitting by a lamp post very scared. She helped Peppe light the rest of the lamp posts on the way home. When Peppe arrived home his family was so proud of him, including his father. So Peppe continued his lamp lighting job.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It shows the struggles that some families experience and it tells a story of a young boy with a big heart. He was so concerned for his family and I think that is a really good lesson to be taught. It must have been so hard for this family of 10 with a sick father, and no mother. Many children in the classroom experience this very thing and i think that it is important that they see that they are not alone. The illustrations in this book were so beautiful. It looks as though the illustrator used watercolor and pencil to draw them. Each illustration takes up both pages and I liked how this was done because it gives you a bigger picture to look at. This book was definately worthy of a caldecott award. The pictures are so fascinating and they tell their own story. I think that the author painted all of the pictures and i think that this is what made the book so award worthy. The author intwined culture, values and character into the book as well and I think that this really made it suitable for children. I think that more than anything the pictures are what holds the readers attention. The colors the author uses really sets a mood and that is really important in a good book.

I think that in the classroom I could use this when talking about diversity. This was an immigrant family from Italy and many children in my classroom will be dealing with the same issues. Many of them might even have trouble speaking English. Also this book could be used when talking about the importance of family and how each contribution that the family members make is important.