9. Daddy Was a Number Runner, Louise Meriwether

Children playing in Harlem in about 1930. Image from National Archives via Wikimedia Commons

Every New Yorker who’s read this gripping, autobiographical novel set in Depression era Harlem can recount a scene that has haunted them ever since. Mine is this: The twelve year old protagonist, Francie Coffin, wants to sit up and read but has to fend off an infestation of rats with her “usual supply of weapons…. a hammer, a screwdriver, and two hairbrushes.” Whenever Francie hears a noise, she throws the ammunition to chase the rats back into their holes . When she runs out of things to throw, she gives up, puts her book away, and goes to bed.