Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter is a coming-of-age novel following Sandy, a young Black boy growing up in Kansas, navigating poverty, family tensions, and the search for identity. Through Sandy's relationships with his grandmother, mother, and aunts who represent different responses to racism and hardship, Hughes explores Black working-class life with warmth and honesty. The novel becomes both family portrait and social document, proving that Hughes' first novel captured the dignity and resilience of Black communities and that laughter persists even through struggle.

WHY WE PICKED IT: Because Hughes wrote about Black working-class life with tenderness and realism, showing how families survive through love and humor despite poverty and racism. This groundbreaking novel reminds us that Sandy's grandmother Hager is the moral center, that each aunt offers a different path, and that Hughes understood how joy and pain coexist.

DETAILS: • Author: Langston Hughes • Publisher: Penguin Classics • Format: Paperback • Publication Date: January 16, 2018 • ISBN: 9780143131861 • Ships direct from distributor in 3–7 business days