About the Book

Charlie the Beaver wants to be a tramp when he grows up. “Tramps don’t have to learn how to chop down trees and how to roll logs and how to build dams. Tramps just tramp around and have a good time. Tramps carry sticks with little bundles tied to them. They sleep in a field when the weather is nice, and when it rains they sleep in a barn.” Charlie sets off with his bundle. But when he hears water trickling, he can’t get to sleep. Will he be able to resist the urge to make it stop? As Grandfather Beaver says, “You never know when a tramp will turn out to be a beaver.”

An American classic is back in a special 50th anniversary hardcover edition.
Winner of the Boys Club of America Junior Book Award, 1968.

Book Trailer

Praise

An especially memorable character study of a runaway beaver…unique, humorous, precise of speech.…How touching the moment when Charlie’s father looks at his truant son’s first serious nighttime labor and says, ‘Any tramp that can make a pond like that is going to be some beaver one of these days.’

The Atlantic Monthly

The illustrations are utterly charming, as Lillian Hoban’s always are, and it is wonderful to see that this story has completely stood the test of time! (5 Stars)

Youth Services Book Review

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