The Story of Little Black Sambo

Rating:
Summary: Classic story, disappointing illustrations
Review: A few years ago The Story of Little Babaji was published. It was same story as Little Black Sambo, with the same characters (albeit with different names) in the correct Indian setting. It had the same humor (who cannot appreciate a tiger wearing shoes on its ears), the same thrill of victory when the tigers run themselves into butter and a courageous little boy gets his clothes back, the same self-satisfied pleasure when a happy family stuffs itself with buttered pancakes. I enjoyed reading it immensely.

Which is why I am disappointed with this volume. When I heard that a new edition of The Story of Little Black Sambo was being published under it's original title, I was anxious to add it to my collection. I loved it as a child, and I was ready to love it again as an adult. Now that I have my copy in hand, though, I find that I'm of two minds about it. One the one hand, it's a visual treat -- the pictures fairly hum with life. The detail work is amazing, from the proper caste mark on the mother's forehead to the south-bound end of a certain north-bound tiger. The reader is left in no doubt that he or she is deep in the Indian sub-continent.

And that is the problem. Because if the plants are Indian, and the birds are Indian, and the tigers are Indian, and the buildings are Indian, and the clothes are Indian, and the personal decoration is Indian, why, then, aren't the people Indian? As I look at his illustrations, I couldn't help feeling that Bing knew exactly where his story was set, he just couldn't bring himself to let go of that old, incorrect stereotype that has plagued this story for so many years. The mixture of the two strikes a decidely peculiar note. I found myself noticing the incongruity and missing the story.

In the end, then, Bing's illustrations do not so much advance the story, as illustrations should, as distract the reader from it.

And that is a shame.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful edition of a great story
Review: I ordered this book for my four year-old who has fallen in love with the story from my grandfather telling it to her by heart. I was stunned at how beautiful this book is--the illustrations alone are worth the price but the most interesting parts to me were the two cover and closing pages with Christopher Bing's Indian postcards and trinkets. Stunning edition. My Christmas shopping for next year is taken care of with another order of these books.

Rating:
Summary: the story is fine, everything else is racist
Review: It occurs to me that people have a tendency to mix up the message of the story with the way in which it was presented. Helen Bannerman was a product of her time -- and from her book, which describes a boy in India given the name "sambo," clearly a derogatory word used to refer to people of African descent, one can only conclude that she was unfortunately a rather muddle-headed racist with good intentions. That people recall this book fondly as a story that was such an important part of their childhood is natural -- the story in itself, is frightfully good. That many grandparents and older adults like this book is also not surprising; but if these same people continue to deny the fact that words such as "Sambo," "Mumbo," and "Jumbo," are at best ordinary words, or at worst "politically incorrect," they are propogating a view of the world that other more enlightened people would be wise to distance themselves from. Let's call things as we see them folks: this is a racist book for the unintelligent, degrading words given to humans. Please keep this in mind -- please, do read this book to children, and please, explain the significance of "Sambo." We can't, we shouldn't run away from history -- Helen Bannerman's book makes this impossible, and that...in the end, is a good thing.

Rating:
Summary: A very misunderstood story
Review: I began reading this story as a small child and I really liked it. This was in a set of books my parents got me when I was two.
It is a tragedy that a few politically correct knuckleheads have attempted to ban this story.
Some claim this story is racist (African-American, or whatever the PC title is currently). IT IS NOT!!!
For one thing, this story takes place in INDIA, not AFRICA. I went to school with a number of Indians and Pakistanis, and many of them are dark-skinned, like Little Black Sambo. Toward the end of the story, the tigers became ghee (or ghi), which is an Indian cooking fat, not African.
Moreover, if that story took place in Africa, there would be no tigers. Tigers are found ONLY in Asia. The closest any African would be to a tiger would be in a zoo, and there is no zoo mentioned in the story.
This politically correct drivel over something that does not even exist has led to misunderstanding of a really good children's story (to say nothing of problems with a restaurant chain with part of the same name).

Rating:
Summary: A classic is a classic
Review: I LOVE SAMBO! My Grandmother read it to me when I was a child, she is gone now but when I see the words on the page I can hear her voice in my head. Sambo is NOT racist. Sambo, as viewed from a child, is black(check your crayola's), he is brave, he lived a long time ago when there was no TV. How many parents have put new clothes on their children and told them to keep them nice and clean. Sambo lived in a different country then then I do, his life, culture, were different. Let us embrace that Sambo has fears and can be brave, and is smart enough as a little kid to outwit those tigers. I viewed him as a hero (in the late 70's) and now I believe he is a hero to my children.
Give kids a little credit they know things change and were different before they were born. The original is the way to go, it is a magical story. Don't forget it is a STORY, meant to entertain children, and it does it's job, very, very well.

Rating:
Summary: (Childhood) Memory Lane
Review: I couldn't agree with the reviewer from Roanoke more. This is a lovely little tale to delight all children, whose innocence has not yet been sullied by adult complications such as 'racist paranoia'. How can such a charming tale be racist? Because a little 'black' boy ( from India) is the main character? If you did not grow up with this book and enjoy drifting off now and again to the world of fairytales and children's stories, add this book to your collection and think of it as a gift for a child you know.

Incidentally, this 'American Classic' is in reality a British classic written by Edinburgh born (hence a Scot) British author Helen Bannerman. It has been translated into many languages and has been immensely popular worldwide...which doesn't make it a German (or Japanese etc.) classic because of its popularity.

I remember it from my early years in Germany and it makes me smile when I run across it here in Spain in bookstores. Create memories for a child you know and purchase one for them.

Patricia Conant, epicureantable.com

Rating:
Summary: Innocence
Review: I remember this book from my childhood and am so happy it is still in print. I had figured it had been "sanitized" out of existence. I was a white child in a black country, and remember reading this book with other children. It was a beautiful tale about Sambo's adventures with tigers, and a wonderous finding of butter! Heck, we didn't know being different colors was a big deal til some paranoid adult told us so. Let kids retain their innocence, and let them dream of tiger butter.

Rating:
Summary: Childhood Classic
Review: This is a story I loved as a child. Used to go to Sambo's Restaurant when I was 5 yrs old. Will never forget the story lit up on the upper walls. As an adult, I still love the story of the boy & the tiger. Sara

Rating:
Summary: Little Black Sambo
Review: I was given this book as a child, Sambo was my hero because he outwitted the tiger, I still love pancakes. As an African American grand-parent, I feel no offense, it is more about bullies, no matter what color.

Rating:
Summary: FOUR TIGERS MAKE 251 PANCAKES
Review: .

Is there a stronger image in children's literature than the four angry tigers that grab each other's tails, run around the palm tree, faster and faster until they melt into a big pool of butter?

The tigers intimidated the little boy (who just happens to be called Sambo) into handing over his beautiful new clothes. He is the smart hero in this classic story.

The real lesson in this tale is shown in the fate of the tigers. Their greed and arrogance leads to an argument over "who is the grandest" when dressed in Sambo's clothes. They get so angry with each other that they forget why they are fighting but just go on getting angrier until they chase each other into oblivion. We see avarice, leading to pride, aggression, and ultimately to destruction. This is a profound lesson for all of us.

The big jar of melted butter (ex-tiger) that Sambo's dad collected from under the palm tree let Mom cook up a big pile of pancakes to feed all the family.

The only criticism that can be levelled at this book is "tigerism".

Make sure you get a genuine re-issue of Miss Bannerman's 1921 original classic not one of the bowdlerized (and supposedly sanitized) "updates". The 21 illustrations in the original have a delightfully naïve quality and form an essential part of this book. Look out for other books in the " Wee Books for Wee Folk" series. They will take you back to the more innocent and less complex world known to our grandparents. There was wisdom to be had back then too.