Michelle P.
HD 25
Children’s Book
Analysis
Title: The Story of Little Black
Sambo
Author & Illustrator: Helen
Bannerman
Year of original publication: 1899
Brief description: The Story of Little Black Sambo is about a
little boy who went for a walk in the jungle, wearing grand clothing given to
him by his parents. He encountered tigers that wanted to eat him. He traded all
his beautiful clothes and belongings in exchange for his life. When the tigers
had taken everything from the boy, they fought amongst themselves. They chased
each other around in a circle so much they turned into butter. Little Black
Sambo got all his belongings back and the family had a wonderful pancake diner
with the butter.
This story
is interesting, engaging, and easily read by young children. It’s a cute story
about a little boy and his loving family. The little boy goes on a walk and is threatened
by some tigers, but he is smart and uses his ingenuity to preserve his life. In
the end, goodness prevails. The little boy gets his belongings back and the tigers
turn into butter which in turn feeds the family. The only part I found stereotypical in the
text was the fact that the father worked and the mother stayed home and cooked
and made clothes. This could be due to the fact that it was written in 1899. However,
the title of the book (The Story of Little Black Sambo) and the names of the
characters in the story are very racist. The little black boy’s name is,
“Little Black Sambo,” the mother’s name is, “Black Mumbo,” and the father’s
name is, “Black Jumbo.”
The illustrations in this book are very stereotypical.
Each character has the exact same extremely dark skin, with large red lips,
white teeth and large white eyes. They are not depicted as individuals but
culturally stereotypical caricatures. The mother is drawn as an overweight
housewife with a scarf on her head and a cooking pot in her hand, and the
father is well dressed with a nice hat, pipe-in-mouth, ready to go out and earn
the family’s income. This stereotype of
the father working and the mother staying home, again, could be due to the date
it was originally written.
According to
the article, Helen Bannerman (Author of The Story of Little Black Sambo), Helen
Bannerman was a Scottish woman who wrote this book while living in India and her
book illustrations often depicted south Indian or Tamil people (“Helen
Bannerman,” 2013). The preface of the actual book declared that she wrote this
story for her two young girls while on a long railway journey (Bannerman,
1899).
Although it seems the tigers have the power
in this story because of their strength and carnivorous appetite, the little
boy ends up having the power with his intelligence. He was wise enough to give up his possessions
in order to preserve his life and he hid at the right time, while the tigers
were fighting over who was the grandest. The boy was nice and innocent and was
rewarded for this by getting all of his belongings back and having his life
preserved. The tigers were cruel and were fighting amongst themselves with
jealousy, so they were punished for their behavior by turning into butter. The
boy’s whole family was rewarded for being nice by having pancakes and butter
for dinner.
I think that the dialog in the book is good.
The boy’s voice was very prominent along with the tigers. The mother and father
had few words but were words of delight. The narrative addressed the Indian
race somewhat by using the word “ghi”, and stating that it was a word referring
to butter in India (Bannerman, 1899). I would recommend this book if it were
just the storyline. I think it’s a delightful story with a happy ending.
Unfortunately because of the name of the book, the characters names, and the
illustrations, I would not recommend this book to children. These stereotypes
could be engrained in children’s minds and give them the wrong ideas about
people from India and people with dark skin.
References
Bannerman, H. (1899)
Helen Bannerman
(Author of The Story of Little Black Sambo). (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/84922.Helen_Bannerman
