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Summary: Thrilled to find this in print again
Review: Received as a gift for my new son. This story is a classic and I was thrilled to get a new copy for my son. It was one of my favorites growing up.
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Summary: My favorite book as a child!
Review: I loved this book as a child and my kids have also loved it. I have a later addition but I am forever looking for the Golden Book version I had when I was little! I see no reason why this book was banned from some schools when everyone I've ever met has loved the story for its contents!
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Summary: Brought back the magic of my youth.
Review: This title helped me recapture the innocence of my youth and the simplicity of love and life that is as fresh as a clear water spring.
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Summary: Classic Story
Review: My 6 year old son loves this book as do all of the other kids we have shared it with. I'm not exactly sure why Mumbo and Jumbo are racist terms to some--I think that they are too sensitive. Surely the book is less harmful then watching a 1/2 hour sitcom on TV. The story was entertaining to me as a child and seems to be entertaining to children now. We especially enjoy the bit about eating pancakes.
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Summary: an honest true story of African American culture
Review: Helen Bannerman presents the story of little black sambo to all the little boys and girls in america. not only is it true but it shows how we (afro-americans) were potrayed in the United States. Little Black Sambo shows how the blacks even at that time were true comedians and actors though some will tend to disagree
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Summary: a funny classic of children's literature
Review: Written by a British woman living in India at the turn of the century to entertain her two daughters, Little Black Sambo quickly became a funny classic of children's literature (modern fantasy). It is a tale of a jolly, resourceful little boy who gives away his red coat and his blue trousers and his purple shoes and his green umbrella to the different tigers who want to eat him up. Then the tigers fight over which is the grandest tiger, and chase each other around a tree, not letting go of each others' tails until they turn into butter. Little Black Sambo rescues his clothing and his father takes the melted butter home so his mother can make pancakes. They all sit down to supper and Little Black Sambo eats the most pancakes because he is so very hungry. This book has the language of story-telling which appeals to children. It is also good to let children play-act out the story. The pictures illustrate the story with humor as well. The simple words, and the highly effective repetition, capture the attention of both reader and listener, frightening them just enough to excite them. One of the most successful books ever written for the two-to-five age group, each picture exactly illustrates a moment in the story. The text and pictures present non-white people as living in entirely primitive conditions, and as having no culture. Sambo communicates with animals, which seemed to imply that he is inferior, and close to the animal world. The illustrations are crudely drawn, grinning stereotypes with clownish eyes and huge mouths. The situation "Oh! Please Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up and I'll give you my beautiful little Red Coat" is the picture of the always docile black. Sambo's parents are called Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo, and these names are rather apt to harbor racial and religious intolerance (as in the phrase "mumbo-jumbo"). At the time she was writing the story, black had no unpleasant significance. Indians were quite prepared to talk about black; the derogatory idea crept in later. Bannerman did not have any sort of color prejudice: black was used to make an interesting story for children and a black child was a more romantic figure for a white child to read about. It was inevitable that a woman of Bannerman's background and period would think and write as she did. Her outlook is certainly racist in the context of today, and would have no place in a multi-racial society. This book has been repeatedly challenged as an acceptance of white superiority, and is still banned from libraries, showing an awareness of the deep roots of racism in our history, culture, and language.
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Summary: Greenhouse Books Centennial Edition of Little Black Sambo
Review: This much loved tale, told and illustrated by Helen Bannerman, has been read and enjoyed by children of all ages for one hundred years. Now in the new 8 by 11 inches clothcover Centennial Edition with the original text and full-color illustrations, the Indian Sambo continues to charm readers throughout the world. Very young readers and listeners have always given their blunt, unequivocal appraisal of new books, and their scorching displeasure has caused many a one to founder upon its launch. Conversely, the collective enthusiasm of generations of children has promoted The Story of Little Black Sambo into a classic. The plot moves straight along, draws sympathy, and is imaginative; the vivid and ingenious drawings strongly reinforce the sympathy the writer gathers for her protagonist. With the exception of Beatrix Potter, no British author-illustrator of books for little children has so well survived the test of remaining in print as Helen Bannerman. Born Brodie Cowie Watson, the daughter of a Scottish minister, she married a surgeon serving in the British Army of India and spent thirty years of her life there. In 1898 she published the first and most famous of her books: The Story of Little Black Sambo, which she had written to amuse her two little girls sent to Scotland for their education. Her tale of the small Asian Indian hero enduring fear and the deprivation of his colorful garments, but triumphing at last over the disputatious tigers because an immediate success. Subsequently she penned Sambo's sequels: Little Black Quibba, Little Black Quasha, and Little Black Mingo. Over the years their popularity caused them to be translated into many foreign languages and various Indian dialects. May these much loved tales read by children of all ages for over a hundred years, with Mrs. Bannerman's original words and pictures, continue to give pleasure to those children and their parents who would seek them out for joyful entertainment.
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Summary: Popular demand trumps political correctness
Review: Mrs. Bannerman wrote a charming tale for her children and illustrated it herself -- perhaps not in the finest style, but that1s all part of the familiarity of the book to those of us who read and enjoyed it as children. Congratulations to the publisher for bringing it back after the undeserved flak about 3racism.2 Actually, there is an Indian folk tale about a brave rabbit and a fierce tiger (found in early editions of the CHILDCRAFT series, reprinted from a book called HINDU FABLES FOR LITTLE CHILDREN by Dhan Gopal Mukerji) which Mrs. Bannerman may well have heard during her sojourn in India and adapted for her own story. Perhaps someone might explore that possible source
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Summary: Excellent! It brings my childhood back to me.
Review: I loved "Little Black Sambo" as a child. I thought he was a very brave little boy. I wanted this same story, not an updated or so-called politically correct version, to read to my little ones. This is exactly what I was looking for, and my two children loved the story
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Summary: Only in America
Review: I grew up in Africa (I'm white!) and I read this book when I was in Kindergarten and loved it! Children only see the hatred of things different through the eyes of their parents. Sambo is not a nasty name in Africa and the children there do not see the book as racist or derogatory as it is so obviously a fantasy tale. Adults need to see the world through the eyes of a child again so they too can experience the joy of make believe. As for the illustrations - if you enjoyed this as a child nothing can replace those funny pictures - no matter how beautiful the new ones may be. Maybe this book is taken too seriously - I have even been asked if I have seen tigers in Africa!
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