The Money We'll Save (review)

In a nineteenth-century tenement house, Ma sends Pa to the store, where he is duped into buying a young turkey to fatten up with table scraps for Christmas dinner ("Think of the money we'll save!"). But where do you keep a turkey in a tenement apartment? They first try keeping "Alfred" (as he is named by the children) in a box by the stove, but he outgrows it; then Pa puts him in a pen on the fire escape, but Mrs. Schumacher, the lady downstairs, complains, so Pa trundles Alfred's pen out over the street on the clothesline. This also proves problematic: Alfred's cage crashes and he "chased the cats and pecked the dogs and wouldn't let Mrs. Schumacher use the privies." When the time comes for Pa to take Alfred to the butcher, however, the children revolt: "'It would be like eating a friend,' said Bridget. 'Well,' said Pearl, 'not a friend, exactly. It would be like eating Mrs. Schumacher.'" The family finally gives Alfred to Mrs. Schumacher (who turns out to be quite delighted to keep him as a pet) and celebrates a meager but happy Christmas. Cole's amusing tale reads like a family story that's been told so many times it's become legend, and the historical setting will also make it seem satisfyingly folkloric to today's children. Many kids, however, will understand all too well the notion of a family struggling to get by, whatever the era. Cole's warm-toned, energetic line-and-watercolor illustrations have a slightly scratchy look appropriate to the hardscrabble life of his subjects. Modern kids will be fascinated by the entertaining period details (straight razors, privies) and amused by Alfred's increasingly grumpy mien as the family tries to thwart his misbehavior. This could easily be incorporated into a class history lesson or simply enjoyed as a unique and humorous holiday story.