Cherryleaf Library for Children Podcast

Performing successfully, Rémi and Mattia manage to save 240 francs towards buying a cow for mother Barberin. In Ussel, a vet helps them buy a beautiful cow. Frightened by Mattia’s cornet playing, the cow runs away and is caught by people in the next town, who accuse the boys of stealing it. The boys and Capi spend the night in jail, but after the vet testifies on their behalf, continue their journey and Rémi and mother Barberin are...

The mine is flooded by the river which flows overhead and seven miners, including Gaspard and Rémi, find shelter, but are trapped. For days they wait to be rescued, hungry and depressed. Finally, they are saved, and Rémi, Mattia, and Capi leave again. Their performances bring good money and they plan to visit Mother Barberin and buy her a present: a cow. Rémi wants Mattia to learn music and they visit a music teacher (and a barber)...

In the first chapters of Part Two, Rémi finds Mattia on the streets of Paris, starving. Garofoli is in prison for beating another boy to death. Mattia convinces Rémi to take him into his “troupe” (consisting of Capi) and turns out to be a gifted violinist and performer on other musical instruments. Performing on the way, they travel to Alexis, who now lives with his Uncle Gaspard in Varses and works in the mine with his uncle. When...

When Rémi wakes up, he learns that Vitalis had frozen to death. He himself remains alive only because Capi shared his warmth with him. He finds himself in the house of Pierre Acquin, a florist, and his family: two boys, Alexis and Benjamin, and two girls, Étienette and Lise, who is mute. The family takes Rémi and Capi in and they live there happily for two years. Then a hailstorm ruins the glass in the greenhouse, and Acquin is in ...

In Paris, Vitalis decides to lease Rémi to a "padrone" for the winter, while he trains new animals with the proceeds. Garofoli, the "padrone," keeps a group of boys, sold by their poverty-stricken parents, working for him. Rémi meets an ill-looking boy, Mattia, who keeps house because he is no longer capable of working outside. Garofoli beats and starves the boys who do not bring home enough money. When Vitalis ...

To pay the hotel bill and raise more money to take care of Pretty-Heart, Rémi, Vitalis, and Capi must give a performance. Pretty-Heart begs them to be allowed to participate, but they leave him alone in the warm room under covers. During the performance, Rémi hears Vitalis sing opera arias for the first time. A young rich lady tells Vitalis that he has a wonderful voice and he evasively says something about using to be a singer&apo...

Rémi enjoys sleeping in a nice bed, eating good food, but most of all, the affection of Mrs. Milligan and Arthur. He learns that Mrs. Milligan had an older child who was kidnaped when he was six months old and never found. Soon after the husband's death, Arthur was born. Mrs. Milligan and Arthur want Rémi to stay with them but when Vitalis is released from jail, he takes Rémi from them, believing that hard life on the road wou...

Vitalis teaches Rémi the alphabet and how to read music. They travel from village to village, living by giving musical and stage performances. When they reach the winter resort of Pau, they stay there the whole winter, performing for the children of the rich, mostly American and English, vacationing there. Come Spring, they move to the city of Toulouse, where a policeman insists that the dogs must be muzzled, knocks Rémi to the gro...

Rémi and Vitalis spend their first night together in a barn, sheltering from a rain storm after being refused lodgings by farmers along their way. Rémi cries with longing to mother Barberin, but finds some solace in Capi who lies down beside him, licking his hand. Vitalis is a kind man and an experienced traveling artist. When they reach the next town, Ussel, he buys Rémi new shoes so he will not get tired walking in his uncomforta...

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 foun...