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The Story of Little Black Sambo
By Bannerman, Helen
Publishers Summary:
- ISBN
- 978-1-92976-655-0
- Publisher
- Handprint
REVIEWS
School Library Journal
Reviewed on January 1, 2004
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 w...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Magazine
Reviewed on January 1, 2004
Fred Marcellino tried to solve the Sambo perplex by renaming the boy, and Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney tried postmodernizing him, but Christopher Bing finds his solution in Bannerman's original improbability: sticking with the 1899 text, Bing portrays Sambo as a little boy of African heritage at home in the jungle of colonial India. Although the large pages of this book have been subjected to a faux-antique finish to give the illusion—and perhaps the excuse—of nostalgia, the lush i...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
