The Story of Little Black Sambo [Hardcover]

Helen Bannerman (Author), Christopher Bing (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

A remarkable celebration from the Caldecott Honor-winning artist!
A clever young boy outwits a band of voracious tigers and returns home in triumph to a splendid feast of a yard-high stack of pancakes. The story, penned by Helen Brodie Bannerman for her two daughters in 1889, has captured the imagination of readers around the world and across many generations. But the pictures which accompanied her text were crudely stereotypical and hurtful to many. Caldecott Honor-winning artist Christopher Bing has spent almost fifteen years rediscovering the joy and energy of the original story. He respects that Bannerman was writing in an Indian setting and with Indian animals-after all, there are no tigers in Africa-and faithfully adheres to the original text. However, recognizing that the image of Sambo has been used as a symbol of repression of Africans and African-Americans, Christopher Bing celebrates Sambo as proudly African, a child of beauty and joy, wit and resourcefulness.
In recreating the illusion of an antique, weathered, tiger-clawed storybook filled with exquisitely detailed paintings that draw upon a lush jungle-inspired palette, Christopher Bing s interpretation of Sambo s world seamlessly melds a grand sense of wonder with the minutiae of nature, and a story with history.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 4-Despite the controversy surrounding Bannerman's racially insensitive choice of names and style of illustration for her 1899 book, Little Black Sambo perseveres in print and in the memories of adults who encountered the tale as children. Whereas Julius Lester (Sam and the Tigers [Dial, 1996]) casts Sam as a hero of the American South, and Fred Marcellino places The Story of Little Babaji (HarperCollins, 1996) in India, Bing affirms Bannerman's text and the incongruities inherent in fantasy. His African child lives in India where those infamous tigers want to eat him up-until each receives a portion of his new outfit. This is vintage Bing. The book has a weathered look, including the illusion of ripped seams and folded, yellowed pages. The danger, however, is palpable from the outset: the linen and gilt cover bears the deep, jagged imprint of a claw. Each double-page painting is framed in black and infused with golden light. The glow emanates from the sun, the tigers, the domes-foreshadowing the brilliance of that "lovely melted butter." Pen and ink are applied meticulously to skin, fur, and landscape, creating a rich overall texture and depth; the areas of unadulterated color provide the magical aura. Endpapers decorated with newspaper clippings, postcards, maps, shadow puppets, and other realia provide an in-depth history of the story and the particulars of this version. Some adults will no doubt continue to debate the use of Sambo. Children will be dazzled and delighted by the turn of events depicted here.
Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-up. It's a great story, told with rhythm and excitement, that has thrilled generations of children since it was first published in 1899. Bing's new illustrations, in bright jungle colors with pen-and-ink crosshatching, are beautiful, big, and dramatic, showing a smart, contemporary African kid in India defeating those vain, huge, scary tigers. But the name in the title and on nearly every page has long been considered an insult and continues to be associated with gross racist caricature. It's hard to get past that. Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney altered the name in their retelling, Sam and the Tigers (1996). Bing chose not to do that, and his version has already garnered lots of publicity. At least one library has been asked to remove the book from its collection, and there's lots of debate from scholars on both sides of the issues, with questions covering everything from "How does the controversy relate to the arguments over Huck Finn's use of the 'n-word?'" and "Is the debate only about intellectual freedom?" to "Is this really a story for preschoolers today?" The endpapers present an interesting history of the book's publication and the ongoing debate, and it may be readers who can talk about that history and about whether the great new illustrations make up for that name who will be the audience here. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1 edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929766556
• ISBN-13: 978-1929766550
• Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Lions, Tigers & Leopards

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They do not want it Sam I am, April 28, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Story of Little Black Sambo (Hardcover)

Well, it raises enough issues to keep literary scholars blabbing on for years and years. Following in the mighty footsteps of two other recent "Little Black Sambo" adaptations (one Fred Marcellino's "The Story of Little Babaji" and the other Julius Lester's complete reinterpretation "Sam and the Tigers") Christopher Bing's version of Helen Bannerman's original 1899 children's book is perhaps the purest retelling of the tale. Using the author's own words while replacing her pictures with beautiful woodcut-like illustrations, the story is a true labor of love.

Where to begin? When Helen Bannerman first wrote the story of Sambo for her children, she had no idea that her Beatrix Potter-like invention (both women began publishing children's books in similar ways) would be the source of so much controversy and contempt. So let's say that we're a child that has stumbled across this edition without knowing a thing about its history. To them, this is a gorgeous story filled with light and color and a young boy beating those more powerful around him. The book has stayed true to the original in that it is set in India but features black characters. So there's some danger that kids will believe some Africans live in an India-like country. Otherwise, there's not much fault (in terms of the book in and of itself) to find with this retelling. Bing has obviously spent an inordinate amount of time researching and questioning his creation. We shouldn't ignore the fact that the great Henry Louis Gates Jr. (the Chair of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, doncha know) not only approved of this work but encouraged its publication. So for me, it's a success (though I'm a little leery of the Bing picture on the bookflap presenting him as a colonist).

For some people, however, the very names of the characters (Sambo, Mumbo, and Jumbo) combined with the history of the tale are reason enough not to approve of this book. To them, a story like this can only make it seem "okay" that children be called Sambo. For others, the true crime of the original was not the story (in which a black boy outwits nasty predators) but the pictures. Remove the offending articles and replace with far better ones and the problem is completely solved. For me, I dunno. There's little doubt in my mind that Bing's book is breathtakingly beautiful. But every adult I've showed it to so far has been unable to get past the title. I would show them the gorgeous endpapers and faux aged binding (meant, I can only assume, to recreate the book as it SHOULD have appeared those one hundred odd years ago). I would patiently explain that Ms. Bannerman did not intend the story character, Sambo, to be associated with blacks in the United States. But even today the sting of that name is as powerful as ever. It may take one hundred or two hundred more years to undo some of its damage. Maybe at that point people will be able to read this particular edition for what it truly is. A loving work of beauty and skill. If you've any problems with the idea of making "Little Black Sambo" palatable to members of the 21st century, do not buy this book. If, however, you're a little curious and incredibly aware of the potential controversy engendered by this title, seriously consider buying it. At the very least, it stands as a true testament of how far we've come, and how far we've yet to go.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little Black Sambo with illustrations by Bing, December 6, 2004

By 

KN - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of Little Black Sambo (Hardcover)

I saw this book in a bookstore this summer. I have been getting other editions from England to give to children as gifts. This is a magnificent book with great illustrations by Bing. I have read the other reviews and trust me that this story stands on its own to delight children. When I taught second grade the class loved to hear it. It is not racist in the least.Sambo worries that he will get into trouble when he loses all his new clothes. And children relate to getting into trouble with their parents. He uses his head to outwit the tigers and children naturally indentify with him; like they do with other hero figures in books and television and movies. He has a loving home with two parents who sit down with him to enjoy a wonderful pancake breakfast at the end of the story. Little Black Sambo is a story of a timeless hero! Stop worrying that the setting is India and the child looks African for Pete`a sake! Its FICTION!! Children don`t care about such picky details! This story has been delighting children for generations. Adults should go find something else to stew about!

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the story of Little Black Sambo!!, October 6, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Story of Little Black Sambo (Hardcover)

Hannah Waddell
Phelps
10.6.04

Little Black Sambo Persuasive Paragraph

The story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Banneran is a children's book that is number 90 on the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000, published by the American Library Association. This book is about a family from India. The main character is a little boy by the name of Little Black Sambo. His mother's name is Black Mumba and his father's name is Black Jumbo. In the beginning of the story Black Mumba gives Black Sambo new clothes that she made him, and his father buys him a new umbrella and some shoes. Throughout the day Sambo ends up getting all of his possessions taken away from him by tigers that were threatening to eat him up. Each of the tigers had one of Little Black Sambo's things. They all fought because they all wanted to be the grandest of the whole jungle. The tigers were so angry that they started to chase each other around a tree so fast that they melted into butter. Black Jumbo came across the butter and decided to take it home for Black Mumbo. Black Mumo was very pleased with the butter and then she made pancakes for their family to eat that night. In the end Little Black Sambo got all of his things back and had a wonderful filling 169 pancakes.
This story has no reason to be on the most frequently challenged book list because for one, it is a classic, and two, because inside of the cover there is a lesson to be learned for all people who read it. That lesson is that no matter what you have in the long run, you will end up the same way as everyone else. If the book had to do with other characters, then people would not be censoring it because they think it has to do with racism. No books, especially this one, should be banned or censored because not everyone thinks the same things about what is printed in black and white for citizens of all ages to read. Little Black Sambo is a wonderful and entertaining book that lots of children and adults around the world have read and should continue to read throughout the pages of time.