14 h 30 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 30 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What makes a child rich when his pockets hold so little?
In The Rich Little Poor Boy, Eleanor Gates brings riches and poverty into the same small life. At its center is a boy with little money and room for big dreams. This gentle childhood tale asks you to look beyond what he owns and consider the wealth of a lively mind.
Imagination, resilience and the courage to hope shape the book’s central questions. What can a child draw on when money offers little comfort? Gates invites you to weigh material riches against warmth, friendship and an open mind. The appeal lies in that quiet contrast: a plain life can still hold something precious.
What you’ll discover
- Little money, big dreams Meet a boy whose limited means stand beside his capacity to imagine more.
- Imagination as wealth Explore the idea that a lively mind offers riches beyond the reach of money.
- The courage to hope Consider resilience through small choices, renewed effort and the wish to keep dreaming.
- A question of riches Weigh the comforts money brings against the deeper value of warmth and friendship.
- Warmth in quiet storytelling Spend time with a gentle tale that makes space for childhood hopes and feelings.
Who will love it
Readers who cherish stories of children overcoming hardship will love this novel. It also suits those drawn to books about books, warm city tales and loyal friends.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Johnnie does a grown woman's work daily
- Imagination turns his kitchen into a kingdom
- A patch of sky and a gift from upstairs
- He runs away and finds a bookstore
- A cowboy with one eye comes to town
- Mr. Perkins builds a scout in training
- Roses arrive and a priest steps in
- Dreams are the true riches of a poor boy
- Duty and chosen family outweigh escape
- Fairy tales and a city told with humor
Who’s who
- Johnnie SmithA ten-year-old foster boy with yellow hair and a huge imagination, he does the housework and longs for freedom, books and friends.
- Big Tom BarberA huge, bullying longshoreman who keeps Johnnie shut in and working, and who values muscle and money above kindness.
- CisBig Tom's gentle sixteen-year-old stepdaughter, who works in a box factory, mothers Johnnie and dreams of a different life.
- GrandpaBig Tom's feeble old father, a Civil War veteran in a wheelchair who loves Johnnie's pretend train rides to Niagara Falls.
- Mrs. KukorThe kind, round neighbor upstairs who mends, feeds and comforts Johnnie and lowers books down to him in a basket.
- One-EyeA shy, loyal cowboy with one green eye and shaggy trousers who adopts Johnnie and keeps turning up with gifts.
- Mr. PerkinsA cheerful, spectacled scoutmaster of twenty-one who teaches Johnnie to bathe, exercise and live by the scout laws.
- Father PatA big, red-haired Irish priest with a weak chest and a fighting heart, who sees what Johnnie is worth.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
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- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Le petit pauvre riche
by Eleanor Gates · 1922
A ten-year-old in a grown man's clothes finds a whole world in a battered copy of Aladdin.
Medium level10–20 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if the only book in your home were a telephone directory? Johnnie Smith, who is ten, uses his to call millionaires on a clothesline telephone strung across a tenement kitchen on New York's Lower East Side.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Johnnie does a grown woman's work daily
The story opens on Johnnie Smith, who is ten but wears clothes that seem forty. He is a foster child, and he has lived in the Barber flat for five years.
Big Tom Barber is a longshoreman with huge shoulders and a strap that he uses on the boy. Each morning he leaves orders about dishes, beds and bead stringing. When the boy stays silent, the man's temper rises. When the boy answers, it rises too.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 9 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Gates, Eleanor. The Rich Little Poor Boy. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-rich-little-poor-boy.
Gates, E. (2026). The rich little poor boy. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-rich-little-poor-boy (Original work published 1922)
Gates, Eleanor. The Rich Little Poor Boy. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-rich-little-poor-boy.
@book{gates2026rich,
author = {Gates, Eleanor},
title = {The Rich Little Poor Boy},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-rich-little-poor-boy},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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What is The Rich Little Poor Boy about?
It tells of Johnnie Smith, a ten-year-old foster boy in a New York tenement who does housework for a cruel longshoreman. He finds escape in daydreams, books, scout training and unexpected friends who show him his true worth.
Who is Father Pat in the book?
Father Pat, whose full name is Patrick Mungovan, is a big, red-haired Irish priest with weak lungs and a strong heart. He meets Johnnie by chance, stands up to Big Tom, and becomes his teacher and friend.
Why is the boy called a rich little poor boy?
The phrase means Johnnie owns almost nothing but has great wealth in mind and character. His imagination, love of books, courage, humor and ability to love are the riches the title refers to.
The author
Eleanor Gates
1875–1951 · American playwright
Eleanor Gates was an American novelist and playwright. She was born in Minnesota and lived in California. Her play The Poor Little Rich Girl was produced on Broadway in 1913. Her novel The Rich Little Poor Boy appeared in 1922. She died in 1951.
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