Pepe the Lamplighter

Author: Elisa Bartone
Illustrator; Ted Levin
Awards: Caldecott Honor
Grade: 2nd-3rd

Summary:
Peppe lives in Little Italy with his sick father and many sisters. Even though he is young, he needs to get a job to help support his family because his dad is too sick to work. After many attempts to find good work, a lamplighter needs someone to take his place while he is away, so every night Peppe must light each lamp in the whole city to keep the darkness away. His father is disappointed with him and says that it is a beggers' job so Peppe decides to not light the lamps anymore. The darkness ends up scaring one of his little sisters, so his father begs him to light the lamps and expresses how proud her really is with him and his job.

Evaluation:
I would read this as a read aloud to my students because their are words and ideas that may be too difficult for students to understand. I think this would be a great segway into a lesson regarding people immigrating to the United States or even to use in science when talking about inventions such as electricity and what people used before electricity. Overall this book was very heartfelt and motivational as well as accompanied by beautiful illustrations.