Customer Reviews

The Story of Little Black Quibba

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This is an excellent book. Cretins have deprived children of the works of Helen Bannerman for too long. Her classic story of "Little Black Sambo" is improved upon here, this time our hero is Quibba, a kind, intelligent boy who cares for his sick mother and goes on a quest to find her mangoes to make her well. A greedy selfish elephant and a crafty snake heed our hero on his quest, but with the help of friend Quibba soon outwits both his enemies and finds a way to get delicious healing mangoes for his mother. The illustrations are charming and simplistic, with bright high-contrast colors, like a child' view of the world.

I suppose the US government and the Census would classify us as a mixed race household, but my children, wife, and I are only reminded of it (and offended by it) when we come across the increasingly rare person who can't get past thinking of people first and foremost as colors, rather than using color only to help in a person's description, as is the case with the characters and narrative in this book.

And our children love it, this is a top pick when they choose a book themselves. We've never had any "black" or "white" questions from any of our kids from reading it, they simply want Quibba to get beat that greedy elephant, outwit that crafty snake, get those mangoes, and dance with joy with his healed mother. Our whole family could not be more charmed by this delightful world.