Peppe The Lamplighter by Elisa BartoneIllustrated by Ted Lewin
Peppe lives in Little Italy before they had electric streetlights. He lives with 7 of his 8 sisters and his father, his mother passed away. Peppe tries to find work to help support his large family but can't find anyone that needs help. Finally, Domenico the lamplighter asks Peppe if he will be the lamplighter for him when he goes back to Italy. Peppe runs home excited to tell his family. His sisters congratulate him but his father is upset because he thinks that his son is too good for the lamplighter job.
As Peppe begins lighting the lamps he is excited and pretends that he is lighting candles at church. With each lamp he lights he says a prayer for someone he loves. After his father says he is ashamed of him Peppe becomes embarrassed to be a lamplighter. One day he decides not to light the lamps anymore. That night his little sister does not come home.
His father is worried about Peppe's little sister and he asks Peppe to go light the lamps because Assunta is afraid of the dark and that might be the reason she has not come home. His father tells him that the lamplighter job is important. Peppe is happy his father is proud of him and goes to light the lamps. With each lamp he lights he says a prayer for Assunta to be safe. At the last lamp he finds her curled up because she was afraid of the dark. Assunta tells Peppe that she wants to be just like him when she grows up because he scares away the dark. When he returns home with Assunta everyone runs to hug him even his father. His father tells Peppe he is proud of him.
The illustrations in this book do a good job of representing the atmosphere of the story. It is a good moral lesson about how you should not be ashamed of your job and that every job is important. This story also shows why it is important not to criticize people and their job. You never know when you might need their help.
This book might be good to read to children because some of them could be embarrassed by what their parents do for a living. Some kids might be embarrassed if their parent is a trash man or a sewage worker, but those jobs are very important to help society run efficiently.
Wow! This sounds like an excellent book that has some really great moral lessons in here. When I was reading your blog I thought of some many discussions that could come out of this book. I love how in the end the author shows us how important the lamplighters job is! I"m not sure what grade level this book was intended for but I can see it serving a purpose in ever grade level! It just depends how deep into conversation the teacher wants this to go. This sounds like an excellent book and I am so glad I read your blog this week!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a super interesting book to read to children. It has very important morality lessons for children, especially if they are embarrassed by their parents' jobs, like you said. It would be a great teaching tool to show children that every job is important, no matter how miniscule. This book also does not have the stereotypical family (mother, father, brother and sister), but has 8 siblings and only a father. I think this would help show children that their family is important, no matter how much different it is from the storybook families.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great book with a great moral to the story! It is so important for children to be proud of where they came from and it is a book that shows diversity with a single father raising his children. I liked that you included that a trash man or sewage worker are jobs that are important for a efficient society. I couldn't agree with that more. No job is a shameful one because our society is a system and we need every single citizen to contribute.
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