Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood

by James Baldwin, Yoran Cazac (Illustrations), Jennifer DeVere Brody (Editor, Introduction)

Four-year-old TJ spends his days on his lively Harlem block playing with his best friends WT and Blinky and running errands for neighbors. As he comes of age as a “Little Man” with big dreams, TJ faces a world of grown-up adventures and realities. Baldwin’s only children’s book, Little Man, Little Man celebrates and explores the challenges and joys of black childhood.

Now available for the first time in forty years, this new edition of Little Man, Little Man—which retains the charming original illustrations by French artist Yoran Cazac—includes a foreword by Baldwin’s nephew Tejan "TJ" Karefa-Smart and an afterword by his niece Aisha Karefa-Smart, with an introduction by two Baldwin scholars. In it we not only see life in 1970s Harlem from a black child’s perspective, but we also gain a fuller appreciation of the genius of one of America’s greatest writers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, African American, Classics, Fiction, Race, Juvenile

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Works of American writer James Arthur Baldwin, outspoken critic of racism, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays.

James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.

He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.

In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.

James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s.
He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie , play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.

Going to Meet the Man and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone provided powerful descriptions. He as an openly gay man increasingly in condemned discrimination against lesbian persons.

From stomach cancer, Baldwin died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. People buried his body at the Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale near city of New York.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Baldwin's only story for children is a surprising look at being a child in a New York neighbourhood that is at once friendly and a little frightening. The main character, T.J. is named after his own nephew, and by all reports was an accurate portrayal of a helpful, happy little boy. His older friends look after him when the streets get tough, and have good times when they can. T.J. goes to the store for a woman who locks herself away in her home, but the other kids go along to protect him, although he is unaware that this is what they are doing. There is a clear difference between the adults and the children in the story - this being that the adults have lost their innocence, while for the children life is about being happy when they can, and trying not to worry too much. There are many illustrations by Yoran Cazac, adding a colourful and exuberant dimension to this unusual glimpse into childhood.

[Effie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a little troublesome to catalog because it's long for a picture book and the protagonist is a 4 year old boy. The art work is quirky and wonderful - I really love the pictures of Blinky with her glasses. I enjoyed reading this book. I think Baldwin got into the mindset of a child really well. The writing is wonderful. I have to disagree with the reviewer that says the characters are underdeveloped. I think that the characters are quite developed, but seen through the eyes of a child that doesn't quite grasp the detail of what's happening with them, though the impression he has of each person and how they make him feel is quite vivid. It's important for kids to see themselves represented in books and though sometimes the subject matter may be a bit grim, for a lot of kids it's like that. I'm so glad this book is getting another release.

[Praise Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Childhood in Harlem is rendered with striking intimacy in Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood, which follows a young boy named TJ as he navigates friendship, family, and the everyday pressures of growing up in his neighborhood.

The story blends simple narrative with vivid illustrations, capturing moments of joy, confusion, and early awareness of the adult world just beyond childhood. TJ’s interactions with his friends and the people around him reflect both innocence and the subtle challenges of his environment. James Baldwin’s language is direct yet deeply observant, giving even small moments emotional weight. It’s a short but powerful work that offers a thoughtful glimpse into childhood experience and community life.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

The term of endearment in the title is very telling, because the book "tackles such mature themes as poverty, police brutality, crime, intergenerational relations, addiction, racism, and social marginality through the voice and vision of a black child." (from the introduction.) I thought he really captured a kid's point of view and the feeling of his Harlem neighborhood.

It's also noteworthy because Baldwin deliberately chose to write it in a black vernacular voice, very much related to reasons he wrote about in, ”If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?", his 1979 essay/opinion piece for the NY Times, published a few years after this book came out.

The ink and watercolor illustrations by Cazac are frenetic raw, and scribbly. Not really my cup of tea, but they're definitely unique and distinctive. (You get a taste of it from the cover.)

[Alex Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is most definitely not your conventional children's story. Written in the mid 1970s and published in 1976, this is James Baldwin's only children's book and one he wrote for Tejan Karefa-Smart, his then about 8 years old, who wanted to know when his Uncle Jimmy was going to write a book about him. Well, Uncle Jimmy came through for him with Little Man Little Man, whose 4 year old main character TJ is loosely based on his nephew.

Baldwin has captured life on the streets of Harlem as seen through the eyes of four-year-old TJ, while he plays outside with his friends WT, a 7 year old boy, and Blinky, an 8 year old girl. TJ, despite being only 4, has the uncanny ability of all urban children of being able to play outside with his friends while also observing what he sees around him, and applying the logic and often the humor of a child to explain or question things. For example, Blinky says she needs glasses to see, but when TJ tried her glasses on, he couldn't see anything, hence, "if he can't see out them, how she going to see out them?" (pg. 8)

But this is also a book that interrogates some very mature themes like police abuse, alcoholism, and domestic violence, and some of what TJ sees around him may sound very scary to today's readers. TJ sees other boys playing ball, shooting craps, and playing cards, then heading to the roof "to shoot that dope in their veins..." and looking like they're asleep when they come back. Luckily, WT is looking out for TJ, so he doesn't become like those boys. In the end, readers will find that Little Man Little Man is how TJ, WT, and Blinky navigate the challenges they face as they grow up, but also about the strength of their friendships, with each other and with some of the adults around them.

Little Man Little Man is told in the third person from only TJ's point of view. It is told in Black English, which, according to NYU professor Nicolas Boggs, Baldwin celebrated as an art form and as a form of politics."

The watercolor illustrations by French artist Yoran Cazac are the original illustrations from the 1976 edition. Cazac has really captured the dynamics of the neighborhood people living in1970s Harlem.

I found for me that what makes this book so important is that it is not historical fiction, but one of the few children's books that gives us a window into the realities of what life was like for Harlem's black children in the mid-1970s. I grew up in NYC, I played on the streets with my friends, and although I didn't live in Harlem, I felt that this was a very honest book about childhood at that time and a wonderful addition to the growing body of books for African American readers young and old.

A Teacher's Resource Guide for Little Man, Little Man is available from Duke University Press.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Duke University Press

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than a picture book and less than a novel. It's a story about childhood, written for adults. Using the vernacular of his nephew’s Harlem community, this book provides a window into a young black boy’s experience in the 1970’s. While the story is illustrated, it’s not a picture book in a traditional sense. It’s more like an illustrated short story. It doesn’t follow a traditional story arc. Rather, it’s a string of anecdotes that reveal what ordinary life was like for children living there at the time. It isn’t without trauma as is shown when TJ, the little man, imagines cops on the street searching for someone. Adults are mostly kind, but that doesn't mean they don't have their own issues.

I can imagine readers gasping at the thought of sending a four year old to the store. This resonated as normal for me since a dozen or so years earlier than this, when I was only four, my mother regularly sent me off to pick up groceries for her.

I decided to read the story before reading the forward, afterward, and additional notes. I'm glad I did, but these additions provide important background knowledge about the community at that time.

[Nóra Ugron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best children's book I have ever read, I wish I had stuff like this as a kid. Even though the context I have grown up in, a post-socialist, 90s Eastern European, Hungarian speaking small town in Romania, some of the things the kids have been up to, doing errands for neighbours, stepping in glass in front of the block, skipping rope, lol, etc, was so very relatable. But then there is also the very specific experience of Black children in Harlem in the 70s, which is told in a beautiful vernacular Harlem dialect, and which opens up in its complexity. Very difficult topics like racism, drug use and police violence are thematized in a way that is suitable for both children and adults.

[Pepe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-warming, intimate, and cheerful. Using the Afro-American Vernacular English, Baldwin explores the youngsters’ lives in the neighborhood of Harlem. This is an ordinary child story, in the community where no one looks for wisdom but there’s plenty of it. The close-knit community that is possible outside the mainstream narrative of families in the State. “He a pain, but he beautiful” .

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dang.

Truly, I love the very particular time and tone of 70s kidlit, especially set in NY. This is obvs different than run-of-the-mill kidlit of the era -- it's Baldwin! -- but there's something about the pace of the story and the independence of the protagonists that still feels very much of a piece with Harriet & co.

[Coleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute children's book - originally noted as being 'for adults'. But if people who speak with moderately decent grammar and word usage can get past that sticky point, they could read it to their grandchildren and explain that 'this is the way some people talk.'

Published originally in 1976 for his nephew [and niece], Baldwin already was well known. I especially enjoyed the Foreword and the Afterword which explained a bit about the history of the author, the illustrator and the book itself. Praise to the illustrator for a wonderful job.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Andrea Engle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in 1976, James Baldwin wrote this “child’s story for adults” to keep a promise to his nephew Tejan. The protagonist, TJ is a stand-in for that nephew, and with his friends WT and Blinky, TJ introduces us to his home in Harlem. The French artist, Yoran Cazac, provides exuberant water-color illustrations … refreshing …

[Dylan Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing James Baldwin cannot write, and write beautifully.

[Sandra de Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This looks like a children's book, but it is not. Instead, it is a book about childhood that Baldwin wrote for his nephew. Illustrated by Yoran Cazac, the pictures capture the images created by Baldwin's prose, and demonstrate the tone. This is a short book about life in 1970s Harlem. Baldwin shows us life on the streets as seen by a four-year boy, including what adults were doing. He uses the vernacular, and while showing us children's activities and friendships, he includes the realities of alcoholism, racism, drug addiction, and economic disparity. I got the 1976 version from the library, but there is a 2018 version now available for sale.

[Jennifer Dines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book. The jacket billed Little Man, Little Man as a children's book for adults. And while it had some "adult" issues that the main character, a little boy not even school age, was exposed to - addiction, religion, and violence - the writing didn't really give an adult perspective nor would it appeal to a child. The characters feel undeveloped, and the narrative is hazy. The illustrations are more like outlines. I enjoyed the stories embedded in the narrative, but they were more like skeletons than full flesh and blood works of fiction. Three stars because it is still worth reading, but I can think of many ways that Baldwin might have fleshed this book out a bit more.

[Mitchell Hahn-Branson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm lucky that my library had a copy of James Baldwin's only book for children. It's apparently way out of print and incredibly expensive on Amazon. It's also unbelievably beautiful, so much so that I'm planning to do some research for the first time on how to suggest to Penguin Random House that they should order a reprint. A pity that Baldwin never wrote for children again.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is most definitely not your conventional children's story. Written in the mid 1970s and published in 1976, this is James Baldwin's only children's book and one he wrote for Tejan Karefa-Smart, his then about 8 years old, who wanted to know when his Uncle Jimmy was going to write a book about him. Well, Uncle Jimmy came through for him with Little Man Little Man, whose 4 year old main character TJ is loosely based on his nephew.

Baldwin has captured life on the streets of Harlem as seen through the eyes of four-year-old TJ, while he plays outside with his friends WT, a 7 year old boy, and Blinky, an 8 year old girl. TJ, despite being only 4, has the uncanny ability of all urban children of being able to play outside with his friends while also observing what he sees around him, and applying the logic and often the humor of a child to explain or question things. For example, Blinky says she needs glasses to see, but when TJ tried her glasses on, he couldn't see anything, hence, "if he can't see out them, how she going to see out them?" (pg. 8)

But this is also a book that interrogates some very mature themes like police abuse, alcoholism, and domestic violence, and some of what TJ sees around him may sound very scary to today's readers. TJ sees other boys playing ball, shooting craps, and playing cards, then heading to the roof "to shoot that dope in their veins..." and looking like they're asleep when they come back. Luckily, WT is looking out for TJ, so he doesn't become like those boys. In the end, readers will find that Little Man Little Man is how TJ, WT, and Blinky navigate the challenges they face as they grow up, but also about the strength of their friendships, with each other and with some of the adults around them.

Little Man Little Man is told in the third person from only TJ's point of view. It is told in Black English, which, according to NYU professor Nicolas Boggs, Baldwin celebrated as an art form and as a form of politics."

The watercolor illustrations by French artist Yoran Cazac are the original illustrations from the 1976 edition. Cazac has really captured the dynamics of the neighborhood people living in1970s Harlem.

I found for me that what makes this book so important is that it is not historical fiction, but one of the few children's books that gives us a window into the realities of what life was like for Harlem's black children in the mid-1970s. I grew up in NYC, I played on the streets with my friends, and although I didn't live in Harlem, I felt that this was a very honest book about childhood at that time and a wonderful addition to the growing body of books for African American readers young and old.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Duke University Press

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A children's book written by James Baldwin and illustrated by his friend.

I very much appreciated the biography of James Baldwin that Nicholas Boggs recently wrote. Part of how Boggs came to write the biography was coming across the out of print Little Man, Little Man and discovering eventually that the illustrator was not dead as he had been told, but very much alive.

Over a couple years Boggs was able to get a new edition of the book into print and interview Yoran Cazac and those around him several times. It was original research on an aspect of Baldwin's life which had largely not been explored.

Once I finished the biography, I picked up a copy of Little Man, Little Man. It was Baldwin's only children's book. And it was written in large part because his young nephew asked James Baldwin to write a book about him. This was a book about a young boy and his community in Harlem in the mid 1970s.

Primarily I find it interesting as a historical artifact and an example of an alternate side of Baldwin. The art is interesting, but Cazac had never been to New York, and the characters based on Baldwin's nieces and nephews were only a handful of snapshots from Baldwin to Cazac, so it is a somewhat dreamscape of Harlem.

The story is simple and involves introducing the reader to the characters and neighborhood and the task of going to the store. This is James Baldwin. Issues of poverty and grief and police brutality are present, but they are in the setting not central features of the story. The central feature is the characters and the way they are cared for by the community.

Little Man, Little Man is not a book I would recommend that every one go out and get. But it is a book that I would try to check out from your library and read. There are a couple of introductory essays, but the main book is a children's book that can be read in an hour or less. I am glad that I could see another aspect of Baldwin's writing and I am glad that Boggs was able to get a new edition into the world.

This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/little-man-little-man/

[Laura Giessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm...I'm glad and thankful for Nicholas Boggs' work to bring this book back to life in this new edition so that we could read it. I appreciate how Boggs sets the stage in his introduction, especially the quote that he shares from Baldwin's "If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?" "It is not the black child's language that is despised. It is his experience. A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience, and all that gives him sustenance, and enter a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows he can never become white. Black people have lost too many children that way." Little Man is written in Black English, making it authentic for people from his Harlem community. Boggs says that the book asks "readers to revalue and find beauty in what has been routinely cast aside as marginal, irrelevant, and even ugly by dominant culture--namely the lives and landscapes of urban black children." Baldwin captures everyday life in the neighborhood for a young child, TJ, modeled after Baldwin's nephew, and friends WT and Blinky, along with the cast of adult characters in their neighborhood who faces their own challenges. Some of the subject matter may appear grim, but I am taking to heart Boggs' invitation to look for the beauty. The artwork wasn't my favorite--hard to make out and rather scribbly. I wonder if Baldwin and the artist might have worked further on this book. Definitely not a "typical" children's picture book, but an authentic glimpse into the feeling of his Harlem neighborhood from a kid's point of view.

[Sonia Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Little Man, Little Man, James Baldwin captures the nuances of childhood in 1970s Harlem. Like his adult fiction, Baldwin draws readers into the silences and outbursts lurking within an inner city landscape. The protagonist TJ guides readers into playtime with his friends WT and Blinky, his interactions with neighbors, and relationship with his parents.

TJ, WT, and Blinky find joy in each other's company while circumventing the outbursts of bullying, gentrification, and poverty in their neighborhood. Like the outbursts, the silences of addiction, parental loss, domestic strife, and working-class labor are like stones that TJ collects in building his sense of friendship, family, and community. These stones informs TJ's identity as a young African American boy, growing up during a time where the elders kept watch over the youngsters and the youngsters tended to the elders' needs, where technology didn't interfere with socializing, where children who were forced to grow up fast were vigilant in protecting themselves and the lives of their loved ones. We see varying degrees of these moments in present times.

This book was inspired by Baldwin's niece who inquired about the creation of a book chronicling her life. The illustrations by Yoran Cazac are vibrant in color and distinct in detail. There are sketched images, painted colors varying in degrees of lightness and darkness. These illustrations compliment the snapshots of TJ's wanderings and imaginings. I recommend Little Man, Little Man to adolescents and adults alike to read.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is not the black child's language that is despised. It is his experience. A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience, and all that gives him sustenance, and enter a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows he can never become white. Black people have lost too many children that way."(-from If Black English isn't a Language, Then Tell Me What is?)

What is there to say about this brilliant writer? There is nothing that he penned or said that left me unmoved and this little book is no exception. Written for his young nephew, it is a child's story for adults. But only if you are willing to let go and see the world from a 4-year old black child's view in Harlem in the '70s. Baldwin's writing allows us, gives us entrance to, permits us to inhabit TJ's experience and his world. As I read this, my molecules altered, I expanded to include this world and to recall my own childhood which was surrounded by trauma that I saw through innocent eyes.

This storytelling is gentle, yet acute, loving, yet painful. Baldwin brings the complexity of innocence and tragedy together in a way that leaves us enlightened and more available. He touches us and invites us to open our eyes and see, look again and see, the beauty that is here.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard one. This is a picture book for adults (not the only one I've read this year!) and a substantial amount of the introduction focuses on the fact that people didn't give it good ratings because they thought it was meant for kids and that it was considered pointless for the demographic... but I am an adult and ... I did find it a bit meandering and unfocused (not pointless, mind you, but close)

I do get the importance of it existing as an interesting look at a typical day in the life of a Harlem kid during this time, but as much as that is interesting and it's written beautifully, there is no actual focus. And the repetition (although it does accurately mimic authentic kids' speech patterns) goes sometimes, long enough to be annoying.

The illustration is too highbrow for the project. The characters aren't consistent (and although I get that they weren't trying for consistency, I feel it would have made the story better) and there were more than a couple of pages in which I was confused by what they were trying to show me.

I like the idea of this book but still found the execution to be not as enjoyable to read as I would have thought a Balwin book should be.

ps. I am a Hispanic woman from Puerto Rico by way of Florida so I don't have the lived experience of either a black kid or a kid from Harlem in general... so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[Tanika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is funny, sad, cute, painful, and just perfect. It is a complicated book by James Baldwin that follows TJ, along with WT and Blinky, through the streets of 1970s Harlem where little children held big responsibilities in a big world, that will grow inversely to the children.

What stood out most to me was the freedom and the dangers. The book explores themes of community and wonderment, seeing a neighborhood through the eyes and experiences of children, and I thought the author handled these ideas effectively.

The strongest aspect of the book was the language. You truly understand TJ when you speak his dialect. For example, when Baldwin explained, “He not scared like he is sometime in the middle of the night when he wake up all of a sudden and he don’t hear nobody in the house.” I think I understood, for the first time, being afraid “of” the dark from a child’s perspective. It made me want to go back in time with my own children and approach their little fears with more compassion.

If you’re looking for a short, cutesy children’s book that’s a quick read, with some rhyming and a simple story, this is not the book for you. Neither is it for you if you need perfect grammar.

But, if you want to enjoy a complex story about a young boy’s day in Harlem in the 70’s, then definitely grab a copy of Little Man, Little Man, a story of childhood, written by James Baldwin and illustrated by Yoran Cazac.

[Vanessa (V.C.) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right away, even before I knew the context of why this book was written and what audience it is for, I knew right away that this wasn't a children's book, but in actuality, an adult children's book. This is a special little book in that it's obscure and will probably only be re-discovered by the hardcore James Baldwin fan who wants to read everything he's ever done. Sadly, despite its importance, it's not James's best works, but it's not entirely his fault, per se. I don't think the illustrations did this book justice, for some reason they didn't quite work. Perhaps this needed a better editor, did it have an editor? This read so much like a rough draft. While reading, I couldn't quite understand or follow what the story was about. Besides it being about a young Black boy and his everyday humdrum life in the city, there wasn't really a plot here and none of the characters stood out in this sea of so much meandering, this project felt very unfocused and fell short all around. Its worst flaw is that this just wasn't enjoyable to read. Little Man, Little Man never got interesting and never quite got to the point of what it was trying to say, which is not what I'd expect from an out-of-print James Baldwin adult children's book. It has all the markers of one intriguing and tantalizing read, but it never reached the greatness that we'd expect and that it most definitely deserved.

[Cecilia Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book is marketed as Baldwin’s only children’s book, it is really a story written for adults to see the lives of Black people through the eyes of a child. It’s very cleverly written. It is probably one of the most positive story’s about inner city living in NYC and all of its challenges that I have ever ready.

The introduction includes a reference to a BALDWIN ESSAY published in the NYTIMES in 1979 titled: IF BLACK ENGLISH ISN’T A LANGUAGE, THEN I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS?” ( https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim... ),
that really outlines his outlook on the detriment of Black children’s psyche when taught by people who despise them, and who also repudiate their experiences. The final paragraph from that is printed in the introduction says”….BLACK people have lost too many children that way.”

The Forward and Afterward are written by Baldwins nephew TEJAN (a.k.a. TJ) who is the main character in the book; and his niece Aisha both who reflect on their lives in a home where their Uncle James brought a unique and special presence in their lives.

The book while only 96 pages long, kept me mesmerized this afternoon. I wanted to read more written from this very unique perspective on the lives of Black people!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1976, and hard to find since then. With the release of a fim version of Baldwin's "If Beale Street Could Talk", a strong interest in this title, Baldwin's only "childrens" book. But it is a childrens book for adults. Drugs and sex and alcohol and violence, and abandoned buildings.
Thanks to Duke U Press,, who released this with an Intro and Afterword by his niece and nephew (the TJ of the book), and footnotes - and beautiful color on the ilustrations. Illustrated by Yoran Cazac, they knew each other through Af Am artist Beauford Delaney, who was a mentor to both, and to whom the book is dedicated.
My favorite scene is when Baldwin describes the neighborhood house by house, storefront by storefront, church by church, as a "crime film". Cops block off each end of the street, and search the neighborhood house by house - where is the perp? Will he escape? Cazac illustrates to the side, looking like a film strip.
With the recent increased interest in Baldwin, and added respect, well worth an evening (or less) of your time. And then move on to some other of his books.

[Kasandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew Baldwin had written a children's book until I found this in a little free library! This is a singular and unusual book, written with adults in mind, but told from a Black child's point of view. For those who grew up in poverty, and in public housing (which I did), this will ring true and feel familiar, even if you aren't a person of color. Baldwin dives into police brutality, poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, and race, but in a way that feels natural, not forced, and all the while, we're seeing Harlem through the eyes of a little boy about to start first grade in the fall. The neighborhood adults keep an eye out for the kids, the way it was when I grew up, and the kids entertain themselves simply, as this was written in the mid-70s (oh, to go back to a time before smartphones!). The illustrations are wobbly and watercolor, very painterly, not the usual sort of illustrations for a children's book - and they fit perfectly. A definite keepsake for my library, highly recommended.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Baldwin wrote this story in honor of his nephew, depicting a day in the life of three children in their Upper West Side block in New York City in the 1970s. It's a rather mundane story of children playing in the street, running errands for the adults in their building, and the colorful characters that inhabit the neighborhood.
What makes the story memorable, though, is that it is written in AAVE, making for a linguistic experience for the reader that is specific and culturally resonant. It does contain some harsh and even adult language and themes, but it's nothing the young protagonists wouldn't have heard or been exposed to naturally in their environment.
For a James Baldwin work, this one is definitely more obscure and lesser known, an oddity really, and while it's not his strongest work (there is a similarly themed and more accomplished tale in the collection "Going to Meet the Man"), it's still worth checking out, especially for Baldwin fans.

[ddip]

I learned about James Baldwin's illustrated children's book, his only one, at the Schomburg Center retrospective on James Baldwin on our visit to NYC in late January 2025. They had an exemplar on display.
It was originally published in 1976 and only recently brought back into print (2018). It's not at all plot-driven and is more of a mood piece, expertly balancing the menace of police raids, poverty, violence, drug and alcohol addiction/abuse with tender moments of family love, friendship among the three main kids, and the joy of movement and dance and music. It's also written in Black vernacular, which at the time must have been a powerful affirmation of Black culture and works nicely in the 21st century too.
One of the forwards led me to The Black Book, a collage curated by Toni Morrison in 1974 with a view to showing the breadth and depth of Black cultural contribution. I've got it on hold at MPLIC.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered this book after reading the Baldwin: A Love Story biography (review pending). It was the first time I’d read a picture book that (1) is written entirely in Black American English, and (2) seems to be written for an audience of adults even more so than for kids. The usual childhood joys and adventures of picture books are interspersed with depictions of drug addition, mental illness, and inner-city hazards like broken glass on the sidewalk.

I love how this book uses color in its pictures and its language. Various characters are described as: “about the color of chocolate cake without no icing”, “the color of tea after you put in the milk”, “the color of real black coffee, early in the morning”, “a color like honey and water-melon”, “the color of peaches and brown sugar”, and “the color of a lemon.” The matching watercolor illustrations are gorgeous.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Man, Little Man was out of print for about 40 years and I have to say, it’s probably in the top five most disturbing children’s books I’ve ever read. Jedi master James Baldwin had writing chops as we all know, but the subject matter here is pretty out there. Everything takes place in 1970’s Harlem and there are allusions to gambling, drug use, and possibly prostitution. However, it’s mostly about the odd life these kids had. There’s a carefree vibe to it and it’s so carefree that the story doesn’t connect very well. I would say there’s a plot only in the loosest sense. LMLM is worth reading if for no other reason than it’s uniqueness in Baldwin’s canon.