Without Family: Preface and Chapters 1-2 Artwork

Cherryleaf Library for Children Podcast

The Cherryleaf Library for Children presents books that could educate children. In our society, we need children’s books that are not simply entertaining and occupying children’s attention, but that educate them in the most profound sense of the word educate: Help them to form their character and identity. The contradictory messages of our society make the formation of character and identity quite problematic – that’s why by their teenage years so many children suffer from mental discomfort, which often turns into actual mental illness. These books do so not through the articulation of abstract principles but through the development of empathy and, especially, sympathy with the suffering of others, clearly distinguishing between good (which is equated with kindness) and evil (equated with cruelty), and helping the child to become a better human being.

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Cherryleaf Library for Children Podcast

Without Family: Preface and Chapters 1-2

June 03, 2020 • Liah Greenfeld • Season 1 • Episode 1

Welcome to the first season of Cherryleaf Library for Children. Hector Malot’s Without Family (translated as Nobody's Child) is one of the best children’s books ever written, especially for ages 8 to 12. It is a story of five years in the life of Rémi, a foundling in late 19th century France, a complex, gripping story, that keeps children emotionally engaged chapter after chapter. Jerome Barberin, a mason working in Paris found there an abandoned baby and brought him to his village, Chavanon, where he was raised by his wife, “mother Barberin.” The story, told by Rémi, starts when he is 8 years old and Barberin comes home unexpectedly, bitter and penniless after being injured in a work accident. Rémi finds out he is a foundling and that Jerome wants to get rid of him.