Amerigo Speranza is a poor young boy living in Italy when there has been was everywhere and there is no way to make a decent living or to get food. So his mother, Mamma Antoinetta, decides to send him on a train up north to someone who can take care of him. All he wants is a good pair of shoes and even the ones they give him for the trip are too tight. There are many words and names in Italian that are too long to read and too hard to remember. The story itself seems like it may be a good one, but the sentences are too choppy and the details are stomach-turning, like selling sewer rats.