The Story of Little Black Sambo

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Summary: Childhood memories
Review: Little Black Sambo was one of my favorite stories as a first grader. My school was blown away by a tornado in 1942 and the my book with it. At 67, I still remember the tigers melting into butter. He was my hero. I ran a google search and was delighted to find it. I agree, " the truth is that the story is delightful, and depicts Sambo as a smart, inventive and perceptive young boy." It should not be offensive to anyone. It is a wonderful story for a 4 to 6 year old.

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Summary: jim crow heritage alive and well
Review: The pervasiveness of racism in American culture still has the power to amaze me. Reading through the other reviews of this book I was suprised by the overwhelming number of reviews which seek to justify and provide excuses as to why others should read this book. Whether or not the book was originally based in India, "Little" "Black" "Sambo" was co-opted by Jim Crow America as one of the many faces of racism, depicting African-Americans as passive, barbaric, lazy, big eyed, thick lipped, ignorant, smiling jesters. For the many who write that they loved the book as a child, perhaps you were unaware of the pervasive racial messages in the book. Perhaps you didnt care. Who knows. The bottom line is that if you want to raise your children in the belief that "all men (including African Americans) are created equal," then you wont allow your children to read this book as a bedtime story. It is a lesson in racist history, as recent as yesterday, that African Americans like myself are forced to contend with. Let Jim Crow die with you. Dont raise your kids with the idea that its acceptable to view African Americans as "little" "black" barbaric, ignorant ape-like animals that step and fetch it through the jungle, meekly giving away their clothes because the master told them to.

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Summary: Childhood Memories
Review: I have been looking for this book since I had my children who are now grown and have children....My little grandson loves for me to read him this book. My mother read it to me 50 years ago and to find a copy with the original illistrator was wonderful. It does speak an international children's languarge as well as grownup whatever grownup means. I am way over 13 and love to read this book and remember as well as share.

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Summary: Charming story
Review: Little Black Sambo was one of my favourite stories as a little girl. At 53, I still remember things like "crimson soles and crimson linings" and the tigers melting into ghee. Though I can see that the names of the characters might, in modern day times might be somewhat offensive to African Americans, the truth is that the story is delightful, and depicts Sambo as a smart, inventive and perceptive young boy. There is nothing in this story that I can see as offensive to any race, creed or colour of people.

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Summary: Great Story - but look at the size of the book!
Review: This was one of my absolute favorites as a child and I was so excited to see a hardover version here to share with my children. But I neglected to look at the dimensions of the book. It's the size of a 4X6 photograph. A lot of money to spend on such a small item - though the story is wonderful!

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Summary: Little Black Sambo
Review: I am so glad to have found this book. When I was a little girl, my dad would tell us bedtime stories. This seemed to be his favorite. I thought he made it up. I brings back such wonderful memories.

Rating:
Summary: Buy Something else
Review: What a wonderful children's story. I remember hearing it as a child over 45 years ago. We used to go to Sambo's Restaurant. I loved to look at the story pages on the walls and see how many pancakes I could eat. I can still remember pretending I was eating my pancakes with TIGER BUTTER (GRRRR). What a SHAME it is to for adults to ruin this enchanting story by bringing their politically correct or incorrect opinions into a child's world of wonder. I remember thinking what it would be like to walk through jungles and see exotic animals. The illustrations in the book are GREAT. Just what a child would imagine. I enjoyed it just as much as I did the very first time. I bought a copy for my wife, who also enjoyed the story and one for each of my three grown children. A great story is just that, a great story. Keep the politics out and let the kids enjoy being kids for as long as they can.