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    Little Black Sambo
    Little Black Sambo
    Little Black Sambo
    Ebook61 pages14 minutes

    Little Black Sambo

    By Helen Bannerman and Florence White Williams

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1923
    Little Black Sambo

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    Reviews for Little Black Sambo

    4/5

    13 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      (Original Review, 1981-01-07)Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, anyone?The whole notion of "tainted classics" gives me the creeps. "Tainted?" Sez who? But changing them to make them more PC is even creepier. Read on...This is a true story, although it's hard to believe. In the 1980's I was perusing the selection on offer in the children's section of an otherwise wonderful bookstore, the kind long gone now. I was absolutely staggered to pick up a book--an actual, in-my-hand book--called "Little Gray Sambo." I stood there and read it: I had to make sure it wasn't a "fake" of some kind. But no. It was a re-telling of "Little Black Sambo" with the central character changed to...gray. It was beyond bizarre. Publish it or don't publish it. But...gray? Not too long after, I was in again. Same store, same section. Oscar Wilde. The Selfish Giant. The whole final bit where the giant realises the child he has longed to see is the Christ child was lopped off and a few clumsy sentences appended. Cutesy drawings and a fuzzy-focus lesson in "sharing." Censorship at work.Children aren't stupid, and they won't turn into racists because they pick up an old classic from their grandparents' childhood shelves and read a good yarn that also includes attitudes we deplore. A lot of "boys own" or girl adventures had bucketloads of this stuff. Yet some of us marched for civil rights, are wary of what drives foreign policy, and are straight allies of LGBTQI family and friends. Remember, children are now receiving a culture (which itself will change) that has changed its attitudes. They can suss out quite a bit for themselves. Give them some credit. If the author of this piece wants to purge (deliberate usage there) her shelves, she can. If she wants to keep her kids' minds unsullied, she can. But I would be more inclined to let the old grubby-binding friends sit where they are. If my kids read them, I might ask if they noticed attitudes, and go from there.And if we purge or avoid or hand-wringing, we lose the frames of reference and foundations for comparison. It's vital to be able to say to our children and each other, yes, this is the way it was, here are the ways in which these issues still exist, let's see how we can involve ourselves in positive ways. Elsewhere I cited Pepys, and his treatment of and attitude toward women in the 1660s - and what society right now is without the very same domestic problems? Racial issues are somewhat improved but hardly vanquished . . . we have kilometres to go yet, and the old(er) non-PC literature is one of the beacons along the way. Avoid it and we'll just continue chasing our tails instead of continuing social progress.
    • 3/5
      This review is for this edition. Christopher Bing's illustrations are gorgeous. The story is allowed to be an outright fantasy (after all, the boy is African but the parents, tigers, jungle, and food are Indian). The tigers melting into ghi is just plain funny - what small child doesn't imagine even sillier things? Bing chose to leave Bannerman's text intact, but rather to enhance it with so many details in the format of the book as a whole that we can easily believe she meant only joy and kindness. The complex author's note at the end is for grownups - after reading it they might choose to share bits with their children, but there's no need. 3.5 stars? I'm just not sure of one thing - can the simple silly story of the text support such a rich, heavy, gorgeous book? I feel a sort of a dichotomy or disharmony.
    • 3/5
      Very much of its time, this book takes a paternalistic, colonial view of black people - in particular of Indians, where it is set. The story is interesting and the illustrations in the (1924) edition we have are more African than Asian but that is how confused people were at the time. Is it racist? Not intentionally but, by modern standards, it crosses a line. If read to a modern child that point would have to be made which, in my view, would be a valuable learning opportunity.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the greatest children's books ever written. I read it to my son at least once a week. Sam, the main character, lives in Sam-sam-samara where everyone's name is Sam. But no one ever gets confused about which Sam someone is talking to. Anyway, Sam is getting ready to start school, so his parents-- Sam and Sam, take Sam school clothes shopping. Well, little Mr. Sam chooses a wardrobe that has enough color to shame the brightest rainbow.On his way to school, Sam encounters a series of Tigers, all who want to eat him. Sam, in classic African-American story fashion, cleverly tricks each and every Tiger until he begins to run out of tricks. What will he do to escape the Tigers?You have to read it and find out for yourself... All the voices and clever little nuances of language are what makes this an amazing story.... Not to mention all the incredible art.
    • 5/5
      Helen Bannerman, the author of this book, was born in Edinburg in 1862 and married a doctor in the Indian Medical Service. "Little Black Sambo" was written and drawn by her in 1898 to console her two daughters who who were sent away to a hill station to escape the worst of the heat while their parents remained in Madras. Seeing its great success with the children. Seeing its great success with the children, a friend took the book to England where it was first published by Grant Richards in London 1899.
    • 4/5
      Yes, it's really, really racist. But when I was little, my Grammy read it to me all the time and I loved it. It's probably not a great book to read to kids now, and I'm sure it's out of print, but I used to love it. I was a little kid. I think it was one of the first books I learned to read.
      Like a lot of the other reviewers have said, I thought the little boy was clever and that tigers really could turn into butter if they ran fast. Little kids don't see it as racist. I don't know what happened to the copy we had, with these great illustrations, but I really wish I still had it.
    • 2/5
      Summary: This is a controversial book about a little black boy who runs into a tiger everyday and the tiger takes whatever little black sambo happens to have on that day, shoes, clothes, umbrella he gives the tigers these things so they will leave him alone. When the tigers receive these things they say that they are the grandest tiger. At the end the tigers fight over who is the grandest tiger and chase each other around a tree fighting until they turn into melted butter. While the tigers were fighting they took off all the clothes they had taken from Sambo so he takes them all back. As Sambo's father is walking home he finds the butter and takes it home to the mother who makes pancakes with the tiger butter.Personal Reaction: While I understand this book could be viewed as negative I look at this book as a lesson about mean people (or animals) getting what they deserve. The tigers were horrible to "Little Black Sambo" and they all ended up turning to melted butter which he ate. So I think he came out the winner and got revenge. Classroom Extension:( I would have to get this book approved by the school and parents before reading this book.)1.) Make pancakes in the classroom.2.) Make a paper doll and dress it like "Little Black Sambo".
    • 3/5
      I remember this book from when I was a child. A restaurant on the Oregon coast had named itself "Li' Black Sambo" after this book (not related to the chain Sambo's).This book was available as part of the children's menu (or some such). Driving along the coast with my own children, I spied the new "Lil' Black Sambo" restaurant (the original had burned down some years ago). The restaurant now emphasizes the Tiger aspect (it is a pancake house) in its decorations. I recall it nearly going down in the PC righteousness of the 80s (or so). The current restaurant sells this book, supposedly the only authorized American edition.The book itself is small, being 5.5x4.5 inches. Its artwork is by the author. The story itself is rather banal, having the vacuous trickster morality style of Uncle Remus, but with the lack of agency by the main character that redeems those stories. If I were to take offense to this tale, it is not in the rather silly accusations of racism, but in the fact that Sambo is an anti-hero. He doesn't win because of anything he does, but rather he just happens to be able to take advantage of the situation created by his antagonists. This kind of thing really came to the for in the 1960s & 70s, and I disliked it then also.I am happy to have the book because of the fond memories it evokes of me and my family enjoying a vacation on the coast, not from any intrinsic merit of the actual work.
    • 4/5
      I just saw a Goodreads friend rate & review this, and it sparked my memory. I absolutely loved this story as a small child, and to me it was about a boy who created a wonderful outcome for himself and who was the hero of the story. He’s intelligent, capable, creative, and very clever, and those pancakes were enticing and enviable.It’s been close to 50 years since I had this story read to me or read it myself. As a 2 to 4 or 5 or 6 year old (1955-1959) I was not aware of any objectionable content; I did not know that sambo was a racist term and the pictures did not raise a red flag for me, and I’m positive the same goes for my parents. That doesn’t mean we weren’t ignorant, and that’s disconcerting.Reading about his book now, I am saddened to recognize racist content (at least in the version I knew) and I must say the tigers turning into butter is another disturbing aspect for me. Both the racism & depiction of the tigers would keep me from recommending it to today’s children.I’m doing what I’ve done with most books here at Goodreads: rating it based on my opinion when I read it or had it read to me. Now, I suspect the version I knew would get 1 star; the revised versions might fare better.
    • 4/5
      ESL classroom use: adverbs, adjectives, sentence structure.
    • 5/5
      This is a 1950's Children's Classic. It was hit hard in the 1970's along with Huckelberry Finn and others as being racist. However, it is beyond me how this book is racist. It is the story of an African boy who has an adventure with some scary tigers in the jungle. He outwits them, they chase their tails, turn into butter which Little Black Sambo uses on his pancakes. If there is anything racist, it would be his name. This was my favorite book between the ages of 4-6, according to my mother.
    • 5/5
      This is my favorite edition of this famous book. Although banned in many areas it is a well loved story. Fern Bisel Peat's are my favorite.
    • 5/5
      This book brings back happy memories of my father reading it to me with the most fabulous voices. PC or not, I readily admit to it being one of my very favorite childhood books.
    • 5/5
      Probably very non-PC to admit to loving thsi book but I do. It was read to me as a child and I now have read it to mine - the tigers are great and I am still looking for the purple shoes with crimson soles and crimson lining
    • 4/5
      So much controversy over such a simple little story. This is the updated version (one of them) of the illustrations, which keeps the character black but also keeps the location in India, hoping to be faithful to the original story but offend the fewest people.

    Book preview

    Little Black Sambo - Helen Bannerman

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

    Title: Little Black Sambo

    Author: Helen Bannerman

    Illustrator: Florence White Williams

    Release Date: February 22, 2006 [EBook #17824]

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BLACK SAMBO ***

    Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the

    Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

    LITTLE

    BLACK

    SAMBO

    BY

    HELEN BANNERMAN

    ILLUSTRATED

    BY

    FLORENCE WHITE WILLIAMS

    THE

    SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

    CHICAGO . AKRON, OHIO . NEW YORK

    PRINTED IN U.S.A.

    LITTLE BLACK

    SAMBO

    nce upon a time there was a little black boy, and his name was Little Black Sambo.

    And

    his

    mother

    was

    called

    Black

    Mumbo.

    nd his father was called Black Jumbo.

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