The Story of Little Black Sambo

by Helen Bannerman

Overview

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.

Author Biography: Christopher Bing first developed a passion for the story of Little Black Sambo when it was read to him as a child. While studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, he began what has been a twenty-year labor of love of illustrating the work in a manner which would appropriately celebrate and respect both its heritage and its readership. A widely published editiorialartist contributing to many national newspapers and magazines, he lives with his wife and three children in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Helen Bannerman (1862-1946) was born in Scotland. The daughter of a chaplain who was posted to foreign countries, she lived for over thirty years in India. She married a doctor in the Indian Medical Service, and they had two daughters. The Story Of Little Black Sambo was written by Mrs. Bannerman to amuse her young girls during a long train journey and first published in 1899.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725048874
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	08/10/2018
Pages:	30
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.06(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Helen Bannerman (1862-1946) was a Scottish author of children's books. She lived much of her life in India, where her husband William Bannerman was an officer in the Indian Medical Service, including 32 years in Madras. This gave her the inspiration for the setting of Little Black Sambo.

Editorial Reviews

In this edition of Bannerman's story, first published in 1899, a long afterword from the publisher spells out its checkered past. But while the text remains nearly precisely the way Bannerman told it, Bing's (Casey at the Bat) light-infused illustrations focus on the heroic boy's courage and ingenuity as he outwits a series of tigers in the forests of India. One of the giant striped foes lurks in the grass on the title page, and the opening spread depicts Black Mumbo and Black Jumbo, the boy's parents, returning from the marketplace among buildings of onion-shaped domes and the ruins of exotic columns. They present him with the "beautiful little Red Coat,... Blue Trousers,... Green Umbrella... and lovely little Pair of Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings"; he will use these to bargain with the threatening tigers, before reclaiming them while the tigers fight to prove who looks grandest in his vestments. Unlike the vain tigers of Marcellino's The Story of Little Babaji or the somewhat simple-minded tigers, as characterized by Jerry Pinkney in Julius Lester's Sam and the Tigers, Bing's villains are ferocious, often towering above Little Black Sambo or tugging at the boy's pants with bared teeth. Still, Little Black Sambo maintains his composure and never seems frightened. The mood here may be more somber than Marcellino's or Lester's versions, but the hero looks triumphant as he walks away in his new outfit, none the worse for his trade. Ages 5-up. (Dec.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 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 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

The most controversial children's picture book in history is richly resurrected with truly sumptuous illustrations in a gorgeous oversized format. Bing retains Bannerman's original text and names, but replaces the stereotypical characteristics with a handsome, tawny-skinned Sambo, and dresses Black Mumbo in a sari and Black Jumbo in a turban. In a note on the front endpapers, Bing relates how he worked for 20 years to illustrate his favorite childhood story. Amid the beautiful, etched-line textures, sun-kissed colors, and lush greenery, the magnificent tigers not only steal Sambo's clothes but also steal the visual show. Fascinating focal points create dramatic perspectives (a tiger viewed between Sambo's knees) and cinematic close-ups. The bordered spreads appear as if on parchment and end-page collages intriguingly display old postcards, maps, and items of the times. A lengthy note by the publisher on the story's history and publication provides important context. Exceptional in every detail: a classic story respectfully revitalized to a new grandeur-one it deserves. Simply superb. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews

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