The Family Under The Bridge

By: Natalie Savage Carlson

Illustrated by: Garth Williams

Realistic Fiction

This is a great book about an old hobo man named Armand who lives on the streets of Paris. He makes his home under a bridge, until one day he goes home to the bridge to find three children and their dog there. The children beg him not to leave and so he stays. The children's mother, Ms. Calcet, works during the day so the children are left under the bridge. The children beg Armand to take them with him during the day. They go to visit Armands friend who is dressed as Santa Clause, and they ask Santa for a house for Christmas. Armand has the children sing in the streets and he collects money to get them some pancakes for breakfast. When they get back to the bridge they tell their mother about their day. Ms. Calcet is very upset that her children begged for money, because she does not want her children to be beggars. Ms. Calcet makes Armand leave, but he decides to come back the next morning and finds the children terribly upset. Two rich woman came by and saw the children by themselves and was going to get someone to take them away to a proper home. Armand decides to take the children to a gypsy camp to keep them safe and he will go back to get Ms. Calcet when she gets done working. The children love the gypsy camp because there are other children, and they have a bed to stay in. The gypsys live in tents and and a house on wheels. The children decide they want a house on wheels and want Santa to bring them one. Armand tells them that Santa is going to bring them a house, but that it was being built and would not be ready in time for Christmas. The next day, they gypsys take off and leave because they thought one of the gypsys was going to get arrested. Then, Armand has to tell the children they are not getting a house, but tells the children he will get a job and he will help pay rent to get them a house. The children and Ms. Calcet clean Armand up and trim his beard to get him ready to apply for a job. He finds a job as a house keeper, which has live in quarters. So he found a job and a place for the children to live.

~This is a great book to teach children about socioeconomic diversity. Talk with students about what their lives would be like if they were suddenly forced to leave the places where they now lived. Where would they go? How would they find shelter? How would they prepare their food, clean their clothes, and do all of the other tasks that make up their daily life? Work with students to outline some of the most important problems to solve, then help them establish several likely strategies for dealing with those problems.