The paper presents the studied image of the child and childhood in the novels of the 1930s. The aim of the paper is to show childhood in selected works created in different periods that speak of the thirties of the 20th century and thus see the position of the child in that decade, relationships with adults and how they coped with hassles/opportunities that befell them during the crisis and years between wars. The analyzed novels are: three novels by Mate Lovrak: Tri dana života (1957), Družba Pere Kvržice (1933) and Neprijatelj broj 1 (1938), a novel by Sunčana Škrinjarić, Ulica predaka (1979), Zagrebačka priča (1987) , Blanke Dovjak - Matković, Poletarci (1937), Josip Pavičić and Zlatne ruke (1930) by Dragoslav Heiligstein. In novels about children's society, the child is portrayed as independent and often takes on the role of adults and surpasses them with their knowledge, endeavors and harmony. The children's novel has children's play as its main endeavor, which in novels about children's society in the 1930s often turns into overcoming a certain social problem. In Pavičić's Poletarci, the authority of the parents and the longing for success that moves the child away from every game and carelessness. The novels deal with the topic of crisis, quality of life and injustice in the distribution of money, condemn the inequality and arrogance of the rich and the bourgeois system. The thirties were the years when fairy tales and fantastic stories were undesirable for a few writers and realistic literature was introduced. The communist perception of the 1930s after World War II created an image of children’s literature in which Lovrak was a central figure of the period.