Randomly Reading: MCBD Review: Little Man Little Man: A Story of Childhood by James Baldwin, illustrated by Yoran Cazac

Multicultural Children's Book Day 2019 is finally here! Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

Little Man Little Man: a story of Childhood

by James Baldwin, illustrated by Yoran Cozac

Duke University Press, 2018 (1976), 120 pages

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.

Then, they cross Lenox Avenue and start down the long block to Seventh Avenue
(pgs. 66 and 67)

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

Thank you, Duke University Press, for providing me with a review copy of Little Man, Little Man: a Story of Childhood to use in conjunction with Multicultural Children's Book Day.

And thank you to everyone participating and helping to make Multicultural Children's Book Day such a success.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!

*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-
*View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-2eN

Medallion Level Sponsors

Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.

Super Platinum: Make A Way Media

GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,

BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board

Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,

Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.

FREE RESOURCES From MCBD

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

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