Kristin Hunter Children's Book Featuring Black Family Life "Boss Cat", 1971

Kristin Hunter

First Edition

[African American][Children's Literature][Illustration] Hunter, Kristin. Boss Cat. Illustrated by Harold Franklin. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971. First edition. Publisher’s reinforced pictorial boards in original unclipped dust jacket. Illustrated throughout with expressive black line drawings.

First edition of this notable children’s book by acclaimed African American author Kristin Hunter (1925–2008), Boss Cat centers on an African American family’s reluctant adoption of a scrappy black alley cat named Pharaoh. Told with Hunter’s characteristic humor and warmth, the story explores intergenerational tensions, superstitions, and acceptance within a working-class Black household. Tyrone, the family’s young son, is immediately enchanted with the cat, while his mother remains skeptical, associating black cats with bad luck and harboring deep reservations about their hygienic and psychological impact. As the story unfolds, the narrative gently confronts prejudice—both the mother’s bias against the cat’s appearance and the father’s subtle critique of that judgment—ultimately resolving in a reaffirmation of compassion and familial unity. The text is complemented by lively, minimalist ink illustrations by Black artist Harold Franklin. His renderings offer an evocative sense of place and character, capturing the expressions, posture, and domestic life of the family with spontaneity and cultural specificity. Hunter was a pioneering Black female author whose works often centered African American protagonists and experiences with wit and social insight. Boss Cat won praise for both its understated social messaging and its vivid depiction of urban African American life for young readers. Slight edgewear and creasing to dust jacket with tape reinforcements to verso and flaps, minor soiling to rear panel, small patch of ink obscuration to title page, and light shelfwear to boards. Very good in good dust jacket. A poignant and culturally resonant entry in the canon of African American children’s literature.

Item #22182

Price: $225.00