Go Tell It on the Mountain
The other book built out of a Harlem childhood, written from the inside of one.
Read our take
Little Man, Little Man
James Baldwin's only children's book: a four-year-old named TJ on a Harlem block, written for his nephew and illustrated by a French painter he had known since 1959.
- 1976
- 120
- Exuberant
- Atmospheric
- voice-driven
- intimate
- episodic
About James Baldwin
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeBaldwin's one book for children, published by Dial Press in 1976 with illustrations by the French painter Yoran Cazac. TJ is four and spends his days on his Harlem block with WT, who is seven and wants to box, and Blinky, who is eight. They play ball, run errands for the neighbours and get into the kind of trouble that leaves a foot cut on broken glass. It is written in the speech the children actually use, went out of print for forty years, and came back through Duke University Press in 2018.
The story, in more detail
TJ is named for Baldwin's nephew Tejan Karefa-Smart, who was a small boy when it was written and who supplied the foreword when the book was reissued forty-two years later. His sister Aisha wrote the afterword.
The block is the whole world of the book. Mr. Man is the janitor, Mrs. Lee drinks, Miss Beanpole keeps to herself, and the children move among the adults without much being explained to them. When WT cuts his foot, the adult who cleans it up cries while she does it and then hands him a Pepsi, and Baldwin leaves the crying unexplained.
The prose is in Black vernacular from the first line, which was one reason the book confused reviewers in 1976. It was shelved as a children's picture book and reads like one only intermittently.
Yoran Cazac (1938–2005) was a French painter who had met Baldwin in Paris in 1959 through their mutual friend Beauford Delaney, and had been a protégé of Balthus in Rome. Baldwin asked him for the pictures directly. Duke University Press reprinted them with the 2018 edition.
Themes and analysis
A block large enough for a world
The ball game gives TJ more than a place in the street: it gives his perceptions a place at the center of the story. Aisha Karefa-Smart, whose childhood helped inspire Blinky, describes the book as continuing her family's practice of surrounding children with literature that affirmed Black life. That context makes the attention to ordinary play significant. TJ is not present simply to illustrate a social problem. His pleasure, curiosity and attachments are worth following in themselves, even while the neighborhood exposes him to difficulties he cannot control.
The neighbors come close
An injury changes what the children can see of their neighbors. Leigh Courtney's teaching guide directs attention to the new side of Mr. Man revealed by WT's cut foot and to Blinky's responsible behavior during the visit for first aid. The episode can be read as an enlargement of the children's social knowledge: familiar people acquire dimensions that street encounters alone do not disclose. Moving into the apartment brings vulnerability and care into the same space. Growing understanding depends on noticing other people's needs, not simply on becoming more self-sufficient.
Why we recommend it
It does not condescend
The adults on the block drink, cry and disappear into their apartments, and none of it is softened for the reader. The children simply notice it.
Cazac's pictures are not children's-book pictures
Loose, unfinished-looking paintings by a Paris and Rome painter with no experience in the form, which is what makes the object worth holding.
It is family
Written for one nephew, about one block, with a foreword by that nephew grown up and an afterword by his sister. Few books in Baldwin's shelf are this small on purpose.
What this book explores
Timeline
1959
Baldwin meets the painter Yoran Cazac in Paris through their mutual friend Beauford Delaney.
1976
Dial Press publishes Little Man, Little Man with Cazac's illustrations. It is Baldwin's only children's book.
2018
Duke University Press reissues it in August with the original artwork, a foreword by Tejan Karefa-Smart and an afterword by Aisha Karefa-Smart.
Book editions
Hardcover
- Hardcover
- The Dial Press
- 1976
- Hardcover
- Duke University Press
- 2018
- 9781478000044
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
Jimmy's Blues
The collection whose later editions carry a poem Baldwin wrote for Yoran Cazac, who illustrated this book.
Read our takeLittle Man, Little Man: frequently asked questions
What is Little Man, Little Man about?
A four-year-old boy called TJ and a day on his Harlem block. He plays with WT, who is seven and wants to be a boxer, and Blinky, who is eight; he runs errands for neighbours; WT cuts his foot on broken glass and an adult tends to it. James Baldwin wrote it in 1976 and it is his only book for children.
Did James Baldwin write a children's book?
One. Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood, published by Dial Press in 1976 with illustrations by the French painter Yoran Cazac. Nothing else in his catalogue was written for children.
Who is TJ?
The character is named for Baldwin's nephew Tejan Karefa-Smart, who was small when the book was written. He contributed the foreword to the 2018 Duke University Press reissue, and his sister Aisha wrote the afterword.
Why was it out of print for so long?
It fitted nowhere. Written entirely in Black vernacular and illustrated by a painter with no children's-book background, it was sold as a picture book in 1976 and reviewers could not decide whether it was for children or about them. It stayed unavailable until Duke University Press reissued it in 2018.
Is it suitable for children now?
Yes, for roughly five to nine, and it reads best aloud — the whole book is written in speech. Adults get more out of it than the age band suggests, which is why the reissue came from a university press with an introduction attached.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Little Man, Little Man, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1Little Man, Little Man
NovelJames Baldwin, 1976Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
2James Baldwin papers, 1936–1992 (Sc MG 936), finding aid
ArchiveSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public LibraryUsed forUsed to place Little Man, Little Man within James Baldwin's published work and verify its bibliographic context.
3Chicago Public Library — James Baldwin Biography
WebsiteUsed forUsed for independent biographical, archival, or historical context surrounding James Baldwin's career and the period in which Little Man, Little Man appeared.
4Baldwin in France
WebsiteNational Museum of African American History and CultureUsed forUsed to cross-check authorship, chronology, and the work's place in James Baldwin's wider catalogue.
5Baldwin, James Arthur
WebsiteThe Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford UniversityUsed forUsed to verify James Baldwin's bibliography and place Little Man, Little Man within the broader chronology of James Baldwin's career.
6An Interview with Aisha Karefa-Smart on James Baldwin's Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood
WebsiteThe Conscious KidUsed forAisha Karefa-Smart's account of the book's family context and affirmation of Black childhood.
7Teacher Resource Guide for Little Man, Little Man by James Baldwin
WebsiteDuke University PressUsed forLeigh Courtney's publisher-issued guide, PDF pp. 2–3, supports the discussion of viewpoint and the first-aid episode; it is not a transcription of the story.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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