“The Old Man and The Flea” by Mary Elizabeth Hanson is a book about an old man who lives alone and goes in search of a pet to keep him company.
He goes to the pet store and decides that he doesn’t want a dog because they bark too much. He doesn’t want a cat because they scratch furniture, and he doesn’t want to have to share his peanuts with a pet parrot.
The man is about to leave the pet store when the saleslady brings out the perfect pet for the man, a pet flea. This flea is special because it doesn’t like fur, and never bites people. This extra special flea is even house trained to use a very small litter box. Happy to have found the perfect pet the man leaves the pet store with his new pet in her matchbox home.
The old man and his pet flea started to do everything together. They went to the movies, out to dinner, and would lay out at the beach together.
The people in the man’s town begin to get concerned about the old man. They cannot see the flea, so to them it looks like the man is always doing all these things alone and talking to himself. A few particularly concerned citizens have the man picked up by the hospital. The flea comes along, hiding on top of the ambulance. Once the old man is settled in his room, the flea appears and helps the man break free from the hospital.
Together the old man and the flea decide to get a pet elephant, that way everyone can see the mans pet and not think he was talking to himself.
This is a fun story to read. Kids will love watching the townspeople become concerned about the old man because they think he’s talking to himself when he is actually talking to a flea.
If you have people in your family who have mental illnesses this may not be the book to read with your younger children, or it may be perfect depending on how you are approaching the illness with your child. Keep in mind that afterwards they may think “Uncle Bob just has a pet flea”, which may or may not be a desired effect depending on your child. It could make a family member talking to an imaginary person less scary for a child, but it could also make things difficult should you ever try to explain the real situation to a child.
“The Old Man and The Flea” is available most places books are sold as well as online at
Amazon.com