Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen

DiSalvo-Ryan, DyAnne. Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen. New York: Morrow
Junior Books, 1991.

When a young boy wonders about some of the homeless people in his neighborhood, his Uncle Willie suggests he work at the soup kitchen with him. Along with some of the other regulars, like Brother Mike, Shata, and George, Uncle Willie gets food donated from the community and then works to prepare lunch for the homeless in the neighborhood. The most interesting thing to the little boy is the people who come to eat. They all sit and chat just like in any other community. The people that were collecting cans and sleeping on benches come to eat here too. The boy sees how the people eating have such a great relationship with people serving food, how they are all just friends.

This book is a great addition to any classroom library. First, the little boy has questions about homelessness. He doesn’t understand why people are homeless and lonely, in fact he is scared to talk to many of the people. Instead, of telling him to stay away from those people or explaining homelessness to him, his mother suggests he work at a soup kitchen with his Uncle Willie. While there he learns that these are not people to be scared of, but rather just people in unfortunate circumstances. It is a great illustration of the scared feelings people might have and then shows why those are the wrong feelings to have.

It also does a great job of illustrating how kids or adults can become involved in their community to make a difference. Not only through volunteering, but by simply offering a smile and showing that somebody cares about them. This book shows that through Uncle Willie and his relationship with the people who walk through the soup kitchen’s door. Dyanne DiSalvo-Ryan draws on her own experiences working in a soup kitchen to precisely portray these relationships and the happiness felt.