The King of Mulberry Street

The King of Mulberry Street (2005) is a middle grade historical novel by Donna Jo Napoli. The story follows a young Jewish boy from his home in Napoli to the streets of New York City after his mother secures him passage to America alone. As Beniamino, renamed Dom, navigates his new environment, he confronts Survival and Resilience in an Unfamiliar Place, The Impact of Immigration on Identity, and Community Rooted in Shared Hardship. The King of Mulberry Street was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book.

This guide uses the 2005 Wendy Lamb Books print edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of religious discrimination, racism, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, child abuse, and child death.

Language Warning: This guide uses the term “mook” to refer to a person of lower social status who is considered incompetent and “Yid” as a derogatory term for a Jewish person. This study guide only reproduces these words in quotations.

Plot Summary

Nine-year old protagonist, Beniamino, enjoys a day of freedom in Napoli, which is a welcome respite amid a difficult life, for he is one of 10 family members struggling to survive in a small apartment. His mother, a Jewish woman unable to get office work because she is an unwed mother, cries nightly, but Beniamino does not know why. One morning, his mother dresses him in his finest clothes, including a brand-new pair of shoes, and takes him out for errands. Approaching the harbor, she removes his yarmulke when women stare at them. She buys him fish tails as a treat, and Beniamino deems it the best day of his life.

She then approaches a cargo ship, insisting that her son’s passage to America is paid. The sailor refuses until Beniamino’s mother offers sex in exchange; they tell the boy to hide, and he assumes that his mother is elsewhere on the ship. Once at sea, Beniamino escapes the cargo hold, evading a sick stowaway. When he asks the crew about his mother, they say she is not there. Beniamino reveals that there is a sick man below, who, once discovered, dies. They throw him overboard. Beniamino makes himself useful, hoping the crew will allow him to return to Napoli.

When the ship docks, Beniamino hides but is discovered and thrown overboard. After he is rescued, Beniamino is assumed to be wealthy because of his shoes. When no one claims him, he is returned to a different ship as a third-class passenger. Eventually, he disembarks on Ellis Island. Singled out again because of his shoes, he waits next to a translator. After a padrone—a man who pays passage for children to work for him in America—attempts to steal him away, another translator saves him. That afternoon, the translators fill out false documentation, giving him the name “Dom Napoli.” A nurse whisks him away and marks him as an orphan. Dom escapes and boards a boat for New York City.

Alone on the streets, he encounters a boy who plays a triangle for money, Tin Pan Alley, and another who throws a dog turd at him, Gaetano. With nowhere to go, Dom sleeps in a barrel in an alley. In the morning, he returns to Tin Pan Alley, who works for a padrone, and Dom learns that the ship Bolivia will return to Napoli. After both Tin Pan Alley and Gaetano request Dom’s shoes, he refuses and leaves them. He finds work with a produce vendor, Francesco Grandinetti, and is paid in fruit. Later, he gives food to Gaetano, who dubs him the king of Mulberry Street.

One day, the Bolivia departs without Dom knowing, and he discovers that Gaetano stole his documents and sold them. After offering Tin Pan Alley an orange, Dom gets an idea to sell sandwiches to workers on Wall Street. With Grandinetti’s help securing supplies, they make money. However, one night, Dom is jumped by two boys, who steal his earnings. Devastated, he asks Grandinetti for a penny. Having explored much of Manhattan, Dom knows that he can store his shoes at Grand Central Station for a penny; then he sleeps in Central Park.

Despite this setback, they make more money, and the boys become closer friends. For a few days, Gaetano holds onto their cash, while Dom checks his shoes at the train station and sleeps in the park. However, soon their profits become so great that it is not safe to sleep on the street. Grandinetti suggests they rent a room from Signora Esposito, a widow nearby. Their first night in the apartment, Dom cries because he has never slept in a bed before, and he worries that he will forget home.

Business grows and the boys, always on the lookout for Tin Pan Alley’s padrone, begin selling breakfast, snacks, and some of Grandinetti’s produce. Dom guesses that one potential customer is Jewish, so the boy begins buying beef from a Polish butcher to make kosher sandwiches. They soon need a cart, learn to watch the weather, and hire other boys in the neighborhood.

One day, after Tin Pan Alley’s padrone beats him, Dom and Gaetano vow to rescue their friend. When Tin Pan Alley climbs in the cart, they cover him with a sheet and go to Grandinetti’s, where they learn the boy’s name is Pietro. They hide him in Signora Esposito’s apartment, and eventually he dresses as a girl so he can leave the building. Not long after, Dom buys his friends new shoes. Dom learns that Pietro has earned far more than he owes his padrone. That night, Pietro disappears; Gaetano and Dom search frantically with no luck. The next day, Dom finds the padrone’s residence so he can save Pietro, but he is beaten and trapped by the padrone, who killed Pietro and kept the boy’s shoes. With the help of another boy, Dom escapes. For weeks he is wracked with guilt over his friend’s death; meanwhile, Grandinetti and Gaetano continue the sandwich business.

Eventually, Dom attends synagogue with the Polish butcher, Witold. Even there, he feels out of place. However, when Dom realizes that he has enough money to return to Napoli, he does not want to go. He vows to get an education and fight against padrones in honor of Pietro. Furthermore, he recognizes that he has family in Gaetano, Grandinetti, and Signora Esposito, and he is content to stay.