This is a heartwarming story about the struggles of being an immigrant in young American and the power of the family to overcome these struggles. The pages glow with rich original paintings by Ted Lewin. The paintings stark contrasts of dark and light set the mood for the book- evening in the city where the lamps must be lit by hand. A painter myself, I would have loved to see a street lit with nothing but fire. I imagine it must have given off a much warmer glow, like little camp fires where friends gather to keep warm. It would have felt much more romantic and personal to experience this sort of light in a city, especially the city of Little Italy in New York. The artist himself has a deep love for Little Italy since he moved to New York and his pleasure is evident in the paintings. They are rich with detail and dark alleys where your imagination can dance along. There are also many places where, like in the big gray street, water has pooled creating flower looking shapes where the ink from the water color blurred out to the edges. This gives them a unique, unfinished look.
The story is somewhat heartbreaking and yet redemptive at the same time. The father is verbally abusive to his son Peppe because he lights the lamps. His father makes him feel ashamed for doing such a lowly job, yet that is the only work he can find and his father cannot work. In the end his father has a change of heart, although it is somewhat abrupt and therefore difficult to believe possible. A little bit more detail in the writing part would have made this story even better, although it was quite enjoyable.
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