The Family Under the Bridge
by Natalie Savage Carlson, Garth Williams (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Armand is happy to live the free life of a hobo in Paris. He has no ties, takes odd jobs and begs for a few coins to buy food, and he sleeps under a bridge. But when a homeless mother with three young children takes up a corner of his bridge, Armand is worried that he will get tangled up in their problems. The children start to call him “grandpa”, and before long Armand is entertaining the children and teaching them to sing for coins on street corners while their mother is working during the day. The children are sure that Father Christmas will give them a house for their Christmas present, so Armand decides to find some way to get the family a true home.

I liked this sweet story of a tramp finding a new family and changing his life to be more responsible and take care of them. Armand is not too picky about stealing and shoplifting a bit of food here and there, and he has some gypsy friends who outright steal all kinds of things. But by the end of the story, Armand has turned over a new leaf, and hopefully is not stealing anymore since he gets a steady job.

The children are really sweet and trusting, and it was interesting to see how they adapt very quickly to their new situation. Their little shenanigans were very cute!

The writing is lovely and poignant, dealing gently with the very difficult subject of homelessness. But the best part of this book is the beautiful artwork from Garth Williams! I really enjoyed seeing the characters come to life in the illustrations.