Sad-Faced Boy

by Arna Bontemps, Virginia Lee Burton

1937, hardcover edition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA. 119 pages. African-American young adult novel. Marvelous b&w illustrations by Virginia Lee Burton. Novel presents 3 young African-American youngsters from Alabama. They reach Harlem and form a band. Things look good for the future. But they begin to miss home.

119 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Works of poetry, history, and fiction, such as God Sends Sunday (1931) and Black Thunder (1936), established American writer Arna Wendell Bontemps as a leading figure of the renaissance of Harlem.

People note Arnaud Wendell Bontemps, an African novelist and librarian, as a member.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arna_Bo...

Reviews

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful little period piece. I got this initially because I was looking into the life of Virginia Lee Burton, who did the illustrations, but honestly they aren't the best part. This doesn't hold up very well as a modern book but it is a Harlem Renaissance writer writing about Harlem for children in the 1930s and it does its job masterfully well. It's told from the perspective of three boys who have just arrived from Alabama and they give us a great introduction to Harlem: getting lost, getting in trouble, making a friend, finding their way home again, ending up in a parade. I'm glad I got to experience it and I'm glad this was a book that was available to the kids of the 1930s.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a period piece. May not appeal to many children but readers looking for a sampling of African American children's attitudes and mores of the time may find it interesting.