Items related to Daddy Was a Number Runner
Synopsis
This beloved modern classic documents the lives and hardships of an African American family living in Depression-era Harlem. While 12-year-old Francie Coffin's world and family threaten to fall apart, this remarkable young heroine must call upon her own wit and endurance to survive amidst the treacheries of racism and sexism, poverty and violence.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
"The novel s greatest achievement lies in the strong sense of black life that it conveys: the vitality and force behind the despair. It celebrates the positive values of the black experience: the tenderness and love that often underlie the abrasive surface of relationships . . . the humor that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk. . . . A most important novel."
Paule Marshall, "The New York Times Book Review"
""Daddy Was a Number Runner" is not sugar-coated or show. It is truth lived in the vernaculara Black girl's humor and empathy as she comes to understand Harlem's dreams and tragedies . . . from inside out. Louise Meriwether's voice is the Black feminist novelist's equivalent of the Blues. If you like modern classics by Naylor, Morrison, and Marshall, you will love this. . . . You will not be able to put it down or forget Francie, one of my all-time favorite characters."
Mary Libertin, "Belles Lettres"
"A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival."
"Publishers Weekly""
"The novel's greatest achievement lies in the strong sense of black life that it conveys: the vitality and force behind the despair. It celebrates the positive values of the black experience: the tenderness and love that often underlie the abrasive surface of relationships . . . the humor that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk. . . . A most important novel."
--Paule Marshall, The New York Times Book Review
"Daddy Was a Number Runner is not sugar-coated or show. It is truth lived in the vernacular--a Black girl's humor and empathy as she comes to understand Harlem's dreams and tragedies . . . from inside out. Louise Meriwether's voice is the Black feminist novelist's equivalent of the Blues. If you like modern classics by Naylor, Morrison, and Marshall, you will love this. . . . You will not be able to put it down or forget Francie, one of my all-time favorite characters."
--Mary Libertin, Belles Lettres
"A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival."
--Publishers Weekly
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for Daddy Was a Number Runner
Seller Image
{Association Copy} Daddy Was a Number Runner
Published by
Prentice Hall, New York, 1970
ISBN 10: 0131971034
ISBN 13: 9780131971035
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Dale Steffey Books, ABAA, ILAB, Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Cloth. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. SCARCE Association Copy, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR at front end page -"to Janet Saxe, Best of Luck Teaching Black Literature. Louise Meriwether April 1972". Louise Meriwether (born1923) is an African-American novelist, essayist, journalist and activist. Daddy Was a Number Runner is her critically acclaimed first book, and the first novel to come out of the Watts Writers' Workshop. Considered an underappreciated classic, it is her fictional account of a year in the life of a 12 year old girl growing up in Harlem during the Great Depression. "It risks offending people by taking up such issues such as police brutality, the unemployment situation, the desperation caused by the Depression and the different ways that the Blacks and whites are treated by society." (Ishmael Reed, The New York Times, June 18, 2021 "A Novel From '70 Is Still Resonant"). Janet (Cheatham) Saxe (Bell) is an African-American educator, author and independent scholar who in 1972 was an associate editor of "The Black Scholar". First Edition, First Printing, 1970. The book is Near Fine, crease to cloth at head of spine, in a Very Good dust jacket, wear and chips at edges and folds. Signed copies of any of Meriwether's books are rare in current commerce, and RBH shows no records of any signed copies of this title. Held in 574 libraries worldwide and currently in print, published by Virago Press under the summary "A compelling coming-of-age story set in 1930s Harlem, Daddy was a Number Runner is a seminal text in the African-American canon of literature." Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR. Book. Seller Inventory # 009143
Quantity: 1 available