The Story of Little Babaji

Like Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney (see Sam and the Tigers, below; and see Children's Books, July 29), Marcellino (Puss in Boots) takes on the task of recasting Helen Bannerman's 1899 classic, Little Black Sambo; also like Lester and Pinkney, he obtains winning results. He sets his version in India, changing the names of the characters from their racist originals to reflect local terms of affection but otherwise retaining Bannerman's simple, straightforward text. Papaji is a mustachioed, turbaned artisan; Mamaji, draped in a sari, sews the finery that draws the tigers' attention; Little Babaji strolls through the jungle--past palm fronds and temples--in an outfit worthy of a rajah. He loses his fine clothing piece by piece to a succession of tigers, but triumphs when the egotistical creatures chase one another around a tree until they all melt into butter. The tigers are by turns haughty, intimidating, and immensely silly in their exaggerated preening and posturing: for example, as they escalate their dispute over which tiger is the grandest, one pounces elaborately upon another, who has put up his paws, boxing-style. A stylish and comparatively spare interpretation--Marcellino several times uses a single image set off by white space, suggesting rather than showing the country's lushness--that still captures the childlike whimsy and charm of this long-lived tale. Ages 2-up. (Sept.)

PreS-Gr 2--Bannerman's famous (perhaps infamous) book, The Story of Little Black Sambo, first appeared in 1899. In the original, a "little black boy" loses articles of his clothing to a succession of tigers. Argue as they do, the animals cannot decide who among them is the grandest. In their anger they whirl around a tree so fast that they melt into a pool of butter ("or ghi' as it is called in India") while the boy recovers his clothing. "Black Jumbo," the boy's father, takes the butter home to Sambo's mother, "Black Mumbo." A note on this newly illustrated version states that, "For this edition of Bannerman's story, the little boy, his mother, and his father have been given authentic Indian names": Babaji, Mamaji, and Papaji. Marcellino's illustrations clearly set the story in India in a time long past. Though the artist's watercolors are well crafted, often amusing, and appropriate to the tone of the text, they and the "new" names appear to only replace one cliche with another. The bug-eyed characters, with their diminutive names, serve only to create a new stereotype. Humor is conveyed in the body language of the tigers, and they are magnificently done. Many remember Bannerman's tale fondly, though the story itself has a condescending, childish tone. Those who want a relic of their childhood are likely to be disappointed in this edition. Julius Lester's retelling, Sam and the Tigers, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (Dial, 1996), retains the appealing aspects of the story but adds a fresh humor and less-cliched perspective through the names and the warm illustrations.--Maria B. Salvadore, District of Columbia Public Library

"This story, which might almost have come out of some folklore collection, has about it an effortless perfection which baffles analysis . . . The formula is: extreme simplicity of language, short, cadenced sentences with enough repetition to give the pleasant rhythm little children enjoy, a plot full of mild and funny surprises, considerable suspense, and complete satisfaction at the end. Still, the easy charm of this unaffected, convincing little tale eludes us." — May Hill Arbuthnot, Children and Books