Poppo

by Josef Berger

Like a tiny dynamo putting out an alternating current of wild affection and inexhaustible mischief. Poppo bursts into the calm life of his neighbors Joe and Dottie Berger. They find him irresistible, and a warm friendship develops. But Poppo wants more. He wants to move into their house and become Josef Berger, Jr. The Bergers are a busy couple with an already full life - a married daughter, a grandchild, friends, jobs they enjoy. Although they want to do everything they can for Poppo, and although they know his broken home life is far from ideal, they also know that people in their fifties just don't go around taking on nine-year-old boys. But Joe and Dottie are no match for the loving determination of this nine-year-old boy. Poppo gets his way. He moves in. Poppo is Josef Berger's moving but unsentimental account of what happens when the three of them try to work out a life together - despite the superficial difficulties that irritate and the profound ones that agonize. It is a story of love and courage and understanding revolving around a marvelous and unusual little boy.

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1962