Charlie the Tramp

Little Charlie is a beaver who wants to be a tramp. His mother father and grandfather lets him practice being a tramp for two days and the ending is very nice. The illustrations are cute and adorable.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

“‘What are you going to be when you grow up, Charlie?’ asked Grandfather.
‘I am going to be a tramp,’ said Charlie.
. . .

‘I don’t think Charlie really wants to be a tramp,’ said Mother.

‘Yes, I do,’ said Charlie. ‘Tramps don’t have to learn how to chop down trees and how to roll logs and how to build dams.’”



Charlie has made up his mind that he wants to live footloose and fancy-free and not be stuck practicing swimming strokes and holding his breathe under water. He doesn't want to worry if his teeth are sharpened or his fur coat is oiled. He's very excited to carry a little stick over his shoulder with his fig newtons and some Good-and-Plenties packed inside, sleep in a field when the weather is nice or take refuge in a barn if it rains. It all sounds like a very glamorous lifestyle to him. But is it really?



His mother, father and grandfather are not that pleased with his career choice but they allow him to follow his dreams. Charlie strikes out on his tramp-adventure but doesn't actually wander too far away from home.



He comes back the next day and offers to help out with odd jobs around the den so he can earn his meals. As he works along side his father he confesses that last night something kept waking him up and it seemed to be calling out to him. The next night Charlie discovers what's causing him to awaken. It is a trickling, tickling song and he gets up to find out where the source is coming from. To his amazement it is a little stream that sings as it runs along in the moonlight. Charlie can sit still no longer. He takes off all his clothes and dives into the water and immediately gets busy. What do you suppose he is going to do? He can't stop the urge to create something and that is exactly what Charlie did. He designed a masterpiece just like his dad is capable of doing.



When his parents and grandfather come looking for him because he hasn't returned home, they find a lovely surprise waiting for them. Grandfather sums it up perfectly... "You never know when a tramp will turn out to be a beaver."



The illustrations are lovely and you fall in love with adventurous, sweet Charlie. This American classic is once again resurrected in a special hardcover 50th anniversary edition. The book was Winner of the Boys Club of America Junior Book Award, 1968. This is lovely classic to add to your child's collection.

I remember reading books by Russell Hoban when I was a kid. I loved "Bedtime for Frances" . As an adult , I read them to my children. I enjoyed reading "Charlie the Tramp". A cute story with the same beautiful illustrations. I would highly recommend this book and will buy a copy for the little ones in my family.

I  recieved a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This book was absolutely adorable and Charlie is charming. All he wants to be when he grows up is a tramp and tramp around! 😄 it was a cute story with cute illustrations.

I remember finding this book as a child and loving it! Decades later, I find it again being republished! I have never laughed so much in my life! I still love this story! At the waaay other end of career, my perspective has changed since I was 9 or 10 when this book was first published. I would buy it in a heartbeat for any young child, both to read it to, and to help it read alone. The book is sure to have a wide appeal. Don't be too surprised if the kids don't see the humor that leaves you laughing! Their parents likely will still be too young to appreciate the humor, too, as they are still beginning their careers (oh, the horror of hearing their small child announcing they want to grow up to be a tramp! LOL!). And the illustrations were priceless! Anthropomorphic animals rule! Hoban gets the subtle human faces looks on beaver faces to perfection! Best story ever! I love Hoban!
Thank you Netgalley for providing me a Kindle copy! I really do love this story!

This little rascal is a cutie, thinking it’s cool to be a tramp when he grows up, which shocked his parents and Grandfather beyond words, for only a short while that is. When is Dad told him to help him out around the home, he told him straight out, that is hard work and it’s better to be a tramp. So off he went on his journey, so of course, I went along for the ride, and I say it’s quite funny, nice illustrations and characters, a fun read.

4 Stars Absolutely charming.

Young Charlie decides that he would rather be a tramp than a beaver. Grandfather beaver disapproves but Charlie's father decides to let him try out the tramp life. So off Charlie goes to be a tramp and discover who he's meant to be.

The story is sweet but it's the drawings of the beaver family that really make this a treat. I've always loved stories with anthropomorphic animals wearing clothes and these are some of the cutest I've ever seen.

Thank you NetGalley for a review copy of the book.

4★
“‘What are you going to be when you grow up, Charlie?’ asked Grandfather.
‘I am going to be a tramp,’ said Charlie.
. . .

‘I don’t think Charlie really wants to be a tramp,’ said Mother.
‘Yes, I do,’ said Charlie. ‘Tramps don’t have to learn how to chop down trees and how to roll logs and how to build dams.’”

One of my all-time favourite children’s books is the author's and illustrator's Bread and Jam for Frances. The illustrations in this are every bit as delightful, and the story has a similar message about a little beaver named Charlie.

Charlie doesn’t want to work. He wants to tramp around exploring all day with his cookies and snacks wrapped in a piece of cloth on the end of a stick. And he wants to sleep outside under a tree at night. Work is not for him!

As usual, mother and father, and in this instance, Grandfather, are surprised but decide to let him seek his independence.

It’s obvious from the illustrations that this is a pretty little fellow to let out on his own, but he doesn’t roam too far and he finds a nice place to settle for the night. When he comes back home in the morning, he offers to do an odd job to earn his breakfast, in the age-old tradition of tramps and swaggies (Australia) everywhere.

He tells his father he slept well but something kept waking him up – something nice. And then to earn his lunch he helped stack saplings. At dinnertime, he comes home to help his father fix a broken plank, and then he heads back to his sleeping spot in the hollow of a tree.

That night, he realises the “something nice” was the trickle of the stream near him, and he feels compelled to dive in and change it. Overnight, he cuts trees, builds a dam and creates a beautiful round pond.

When father and mother and grandfather decide to go look for him, they can’t believe their eyes! Where did this come from? They don’t see Charlie, but they know this isn’t the work of any of their beaver friends.

When Charlie hops out from his sleeping spot and announces that it’s his pond, the grown-ups are astounded.

“'Any tramp that can make a pond like that is going to be some beaver one of these days,' said Father."

And they all head home for flapjacks and maple syrup.

It’s an easy story for children to read, but they may need a little guidance on how Charlie’s dam-building efforts are exactly the sort of work he was trying to avoid.

Today’s tramps and swaggies are just called Homeless People, and the romance of the road doesn’t seem to be part of their story.

A nice book, but one that I suspect will be enjoyed more by grandparents than today’s children. I have to give it four stars because I love the illustrations and the series and I’m old enough to make the connection and have seen beaver dams. And the connection to Charlie Chaplin, the Little Tramp.

Thanks to NetGalley and Plough Publishing for the preview copy of the reissue of this 1966 story.

Do you remember reading Bread and Jam for Frances when you were little? I do, and this book about Charlie the Beaver is so like that one, it tickled me pink to read it. The illustrations are cute, and the story is easy enough for a small child to understand while being read aloud to, or even for an early reader to start reading on their own. I can't wait to read this to my 3 year old son, I think he's going to love it. (He is the type who would probably also want to be a tramp, too!)

I much preferred this to the same couple's ''Harvey's Hideout'', where the characters were unlikeable and the story weak. Here we get a very definite tinge of the old-fashioned, but I think this volume is altogether more winsome. A young beaver declares his intention never to beave, but to be a tramp - little does he know what the call he is hearing, and a little nudge towards independence, will lead to. Wonderful graphite illustrations convey the spirit of the animals, and the little tale is just a perfectly encapsulated slice of growing-up. You'll only find it dated if you think too hard about it - for this is a pretty decent and very enjoyable book.

Charlie HATES chores!!!
He refuses to be his dad and grandpa and build dams, but does Charlie have what it takes to be a tramp?

Charlie is tired of chores and doesn't want to grow up to be a beaver and build dams. He wants to be a tramp. This is a very sweet classic story that holds up to the years. I loved this book as a child, and I know my daughter would have related to Charlie. Who wants to do chores? Who wants to do what they're told all the time? And who works harder at playing than they ever did at chores - children! Whimsical illustrations make it even better. Very relatable fun story that opens up good conversations.