The Children of Sanchez is a 1961 book by American anthropologist Oscar Lewis about a Mexican family living in the Mexico City slum of Tepito, which he studied as part of his program to develop his concept of culture of poverty.

[3] Due to criticisms expressed by members of the family regarding the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) government and Mexican presidents such as Adolfo Ruiz Cortines and Adolfo López Mateos, and its being written by a foreigner, the book was banned in Mexico for a few years before pressure from literary figures resulted in its publication.

The particular ethnographic reality that Lewis is focussing on in his book was the plight of the urban poor in a developing country.

The political implications of this approach caused some concern when The Children of Sánchez was published in Mexico in Spanish in 1964.

The hearing of the case, the text of which was appended to the second Mexican edition by Joaquin Mortiz, resulted in the dismissal of the charges against Lewis and the publisher as unfounded.