Little Black Sambo - Hardcover

Helen Bannerman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1871061040 ISBN 13: 9781871061048

Publisher: Reinhardt Books, 1988

Synopsis

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 Bings interpretation of Sambos world seamlessly melds a grand sense of wonder with the minutiae of nature, and a story with history.

About this title

About the Author:

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

Christopher Bing Christopher Bing, whose first book, "Casey at the Bat," was named a 2001 Caldecott Honor Book, lives with his wife and three children in Lexington, Massachusetts, in a house directly on the Freedom Trail, the route on which Paul Revere rode on that fateful night of April 18th, two hundred twenty-six years ago.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 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
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About this edition

• Publisher: Reinhardt Books
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 1871061040
• ISBN 13: 9781871061048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 62