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

When I was a little girl, in the sixties, I loved the story of Little Black Sambo, but thirty years later, when my son came across my copy in a box of old books, and asked me to read it to him, I found that it was a lot less charming than I thought it was. Sambo was a great, resourceful little boy and the story was terrific, but as an adult I couldnÕt overlook the obvious condescension that the British author had toward her Indian characters. I hid the book away, but reluctantly, because it really was a good story with a great central character.A few years later, I was thrilled to find this book. Julius Lester has kept everything that I loved about the original and made it even better. The story, about a clever little boy who outwits some tigers who want to eat him, is pretty much the same as Helen BannermanÕs version. Lester has simply transported it from India to a fantastic, fairy tale America, where animals and people live and work together. But what is special here is the way Lester tells the story. His style is funny one minute and breathtakingly beautiful the next. The writing is so fine and musical, itÕs a pleasure to read aloud.And the pictures are brilliant. Jerry Pinkney is one of the best childrenÕs book illustrators around, and this is the best thing IÕve ever seen by him. It has all the lovely qualities IÕve come to expect to find in PinkneyÕs art work Ð great composition, tasteful use of color (which makes the brighter colors of SamÕs clothes practically glow on the page), and exquisite detail. But this book has magic touches that go way beyond that. Every time I look at this book, I discover new details Ð the faces in the tree bark and foliage, the little bonnets and jackets on the insects, the facial expressions of tiny, hidden animals recoiling in fear of the tigers Ð that add to the magic world of this book.My thanks to Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney for making it possible for me to read this great story to my children again.

This book has the most beautiful pictures and the best story. The kids at our preschool ask for this book everyday right before naptime. We don't even get past the first page without the children chatting and commenting on whats going on. Thankyou for a wonderful book!

Julius Lester has a beautiful way discribing the colors of the clothes that Sam chooses. I have read this book to many groups of children and they love it. Especially when Sam is left standing in his underwear! Sam is a smart and brave character and young readers are happy when he out-smarts the tigers.

I am an elementary librarian at Hardin Northern Schools. Almost all of my students are too young to remember the controversy that surround Little Black Sambo, and have never heard the story. I was a child that grew up with that story, and loved it dearly. I also was a child who's mother was afraid the story was sending negative messages to her impressionable children. So at a certain point in our lives Sambo was removed.How delighted I was to see it reappear it this wonderful new light. Pinkney and Lester are masters of their domains, and have proven once again that a good story is a most powerful tool.I introduced this book at the beginning of the year and have had temendous results. Parents and children report having conversations about the old story vs. the new one. It has opened up a new line of communication in many households in our area. How else could you make butter from a yellow shirt, purple pants, green umbrella, red coat, silver shoes, tigers and a very clever hero? Only in a book. Thank you Mr. Lester and Mr. Pinkney!!

I am a teacher of first grade and kindergarten students. My little students are six years of age...not old enough to remember the difficulties of segregation and the story of Ruby Bridges. They have never heard the story of Little Black Sambo. This past week we've been studying the life and philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I read the wonderfully written and illustrated book of Sam and the Tigers to my kidlets. They loved the colorful illustrations and the idea that people and animals could live, speak, and work together. We all reveled in the beautiful language used by Julius Lester. This is a book the children want hear again and again.