The Story of Little Babaji
The Story of Little Babaji
Written by Helen Bannerman
Illustrations by Fred Marcellino
New York, HarperCollins, 1996
6.5" x 6.5"
Kerlan Collection, Children's Literature Research Collections
University of Minnesota Libraries
Two reimaginings of The Story of Little Black Sambo made near-simultaneous appearances in 1996: Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney's Sam and the Tigers and this interpretation by graphic artist and illustrator Fred Marcellino. Marcellino came to the project with fond childhood memories of Bannerman's text, and with the realization that key details of the narrative—the presence of tigers, the reference to ghee (Indian-style clarified butter)—seemed clearly to point not to an African setting for the tale but rather to an Indian one.
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