In this edition of Bannerman's story, first published in 1899, a long afterword from the publisher spells out its checkered past. But while the text remains nearly precisely the way Bannerman told it, Bing's (Casey at the Bat
) light-infused illustrations focus on the heroic boy's courage and ingenuity as he outwits a series of tigers in the forests of India. One of the giant striped foes lurks in the grass on the title page, and the opening spread depicts Black Mumbo and Black Jumbo, the boy's parents, returning from the marketplace among buildings of onion-shaped domes and the ruins of exotic columns. They present him with the "beautiful little Red Coat,... Blue Trousers,... Green Umbrella... and lovely little Pair of Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings"; he will use these to bargain with the threatening tigers, before reclaiming them while the tigers fight to prove who looks grandest in his vestments. Unlike the vain tigers of Marcellino's The Story of Little Babaji
or the somewhat simple-minded tigers, as characterized by Jerry Pinkney in Julius Lester's Sam and the Tigers
, Bing's villains are ferocious, often towering above Little Black Sambo or tugging at the boy's pants with bared teeth. Still, Little Black Sambo maintains his composure and never seems frightened. The mood here may be more somber than Marcellino's or Lester's versions, but the hero looks triumphant as he walks away in his new outfit, none the worse for his trade. Ages 5-up. (Dec.)
