The House With 21 Kids
A true story near Santa Cruz, CA, told for kids 6-8.
Read along
Psst. Guess how many kids lived in one tiny old house near here? Twenty-one! People say a man named Jose Lorenzana and his wife had twenty-one children. And the house had just two rooms!
Imagine twenty-three people and one bathroom line. This is the Branciforte Adobe, and it is the oldest house built for one family in Santa Cruz. Its walls are made of mud bricks, called adobe, and they are two feet thick. That's about as thick as a big pizza box is wide. The walls keep the house cool, like a quiet little fort.
Now it's your turn. Look out the window and count how many houses you can see. Is anything as crowded as that one?
Quiz the back seat
What are the walls of the Branciforte Adobe made from?
Show the answer
Mud bricks. Mud bricks! They are called adobe, and they are two feet thick.
3 fun facts
- The Branciforte Adobe is the oldest single-family dwelling in Santa Cruz.
- Its adobe walls are about 2 feet thick.
- Jose Lorenzana reportedly had 21 children.
For grown-ups
Written with AI from public sources, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).