Sam and the Tigers: A New Telling of Little Black Sambo Book

Once upon a time there was a place called Sam-sam-sa-mara, where the animals and the people lived and worked together like they didn't know they weren't supposed to. There was a little boy in Sam-sam-sa-mara named Sam....

So begins this delightful telling of one of the most controversial books in children's literature, Little Black Sambo. Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney reveal at the heart of this story a lively and charming tale of a little boy who triumphs over several hungry tigers.

"Lester and Pinkney have stripped away the ugly racism and...reclaimed a great classic for children. [The] expansive black storytelling voice is both folksy and contemporary, funny and fearful." —Booklist

"Lester's wit...makes the story fresh and funny; Pinkney's watercolors have vitality and, in the tigers, magnificence." —The Horn Book

Awards:
( An ALA Notable Book
( An NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
( An American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists"

Publishers Weekly

Troubled by the racist trappingsthe characters' names and the stereotypical illustrationsof The Story of Little Black Sambo, but drawn nonetheless to its hero and its humor, Lester and Pinkney set out to reinvent the tale. Their interpretation is more freewheeling than Fred Marcellino's (see The Story of Little Babaji, above), and they departs frequently and ingeniously from Bannerman's version. The new book's protagonist is simply Sam; the setting is the land of Sam-sam-sa-mara, where everyone is named Sama touch that not only defuses any echoes of the original hero's derogatory name, but allows for many wonderfully absurd exchanges ("Sam looked at Sam. Sam shrugged. Sam shrugged back...."). Using the lively Southern black voice of his Uncle Remus retellings, Lester creates a savvy, comically streetwise hero who quickly learns to anticipate the tigers' muggings (" `You know the routine,' said the Tiger. Sam nodded and took off his pants. `Take 'em.' ") while losing none of his own sass. Pinkney's lavish illustrationsa feast of figures, color, expressions and detailpick up and run with the expansive mood of the text. A hip and hilarious retelling that marries the essence of the original with an innovative vision of its own. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)