Menino de engenho (Plantation boy) is a novel written by the Brazilian writer José Lins do Rego.

Carlos Melo, or Carlinhos, narrates in first person, in a nostalgic manner, the childhood spent in the plantation Santa Rosa.

When his father was sent to a mental house after killing his mother, Carlinhos moved from Recife to Santa Rosa, in the plantation that belonged to his grandfather, Coronel José Paulino.

Maria Clara was a little older than Carlinhos and told him about all the fun and new things that happened in the city.

However, aunt Sinhazinha's austerity made Carlinhos even more libertine: the boy, only twelve years old, caught gonorrhea.