Sambo is a South Indian boy who encounters four hungry tigers, and surrenders his colourful new clothes, shoes, and umbrella so they will not eat him. The tigers are vain and each thinks he is better dressed than the others. They chase each other around a tree until they are reduced to a pool of melted butter. Sambo then recovers his clothes and his mother makes pancakes out of the butter.
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Sambo is a South Indian boy who encounters four hungry tigers, and surrenders his colourful new clothes, shoes, and umbrella so they will not eat him. The tigers are vain and each thinks he is better dressed than the others. They chase each other around a tree until they are reduced to a pool of melted butter. Sambo then recovers his clothes and his mother makes pancakes out of the butter.
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Love having this book back in my collection of old favorite books. I had it as a child and am a collector of black memorabilia. such as the Cream of Wheat ads that included the blacks.
sheila0405
Mar 25, 2010
Changed publication
I thought I was getting the book I remembered from childhood, but this book is in black and white. The vivid colors are an intrinsic part of the story. I should have been more diligent in tracking down the book I loved as a child. There are color illustrated books out there and I will attempt to track them down.
AlaskanMom
Dec 7, 2007
Where's The Controversy?
My grandmother had this book when I was little and it was my favorite bedtime story. It was exciting, and as a child, the fact that the lead character is a child that outwits the evil tigers was very empowering. My favorite part was that he was able to have all those pancakes with syrup and butter. I had wonderful dreams of stacks of pancakes dripping with butter and syrup. Which was the breakfast at grandma's house, inspired by the previous night's book. I cannot see why this book could be banned or looked down on. I never felt like it was insulting to African Americans nor did it depict them in an unsavory light. I think it is a wonderful book and have bought it for my boys, who love tigers, adventure and especially, pancakes smothered in butter and syrup.
Selina
Oct 12, 2007
Feirce
When I was in college a professor told us to read "Little Black Sambo" so I read a copy a friend of mine had. It was a story I never thought of reading. I knew it was controversial and did not know what to think.
I really liked it when I read it. Tigers always make excellent villians and here the tigers want Sambo's clothes. Sambo is an intelligent and resourceful child. He manages to save the day all by himself. Most children's book have the child require help by an outside source, but here Sambo has enough brains to out smart a bunch of rather dumb tigers. This is a great book.
