Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1993)
At a time when streetlamps are lit by hand, Peppe lives in New York's Little Italy. With Mamma dead, Papa ill, and seven sisters at home, times are hard; the tradespeople Peppe asks for work all turn him down. So when the lamplighter asks the boy to take his place while he goes back to Italy, Peppe is overjoyed; at first, each lamp he lights is a wish for his family--that Assunta "learns good English in school," that Giulia marries well, that Nicolina finds work. But Papa is bitterly disappointed--"Did I come to America for my son to light the streetlamps?" Discouraged, Peppe leaves the lamps dark one night, only to learn that little Assunta has depended on the light to come home. Thus Peppe regains his self-respect--and Papa's approval. The economically told narrative gracefully incorporates many details of the setting, which is also splendidly realized in Lewin's luminous paintings. Peppe's lamps shine bravely in a tenement world where both night and interiors are dark, while clothing and street scenes arc also somber. Lewin's characterizations are subtle and telling; in his splendid compositions, the dramatic interplay of light and dark intensify the story's message of hope. A beautiful, moving book. 1993

Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May 1993 (Vol. 46, No. 9))
Peppe is a young boy living "a long time ago when there was no electricity and the streetlamps in Little Italy had to be lit by hand." Due to his father's illness Peppe must work to help support his motherless family, and he eventually finds a job lighting those streetlamps. Peppe is dismayed when his father denigrates the job as menial street work, but eventually his youngest sister causes him and his father to regain pride in his work. The story avoids sentimentality in favor of simplicity and a touch of lyricism (when Peppe lights the lamps he imagines each one to be a "small flame of promise for the future"); Peppe's quiet quest for familial respect and pleasure in his work is touching and rhythmically written. The early-American city scenes are dark but have a nice period luminescence in the myriad street and table lamps, and the earth-toned watercolors lend the bustling streets and interiors of Little Italy an air both somber and lively. This is a pleasing kid-centered slice of history that possesses a warmth and dignity to which contemporary youngsters will relate. R--Recommended. (c) Copyright 1993, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1993, Lothrop, 32p, $13.93 and $14.00. Ages 5-8 yrs.