The Little Red Hen

[Bilderberg CEO]

How many parents read the Little Red Hen to their kids? Is there a better anti-collectivism book for children? I think not. It's one of my favorites anyway.

[Jaeger]

I remember my dad and mom reading this to me as well as the grasshopper and the ant.

[Bilderberg CEO]

I can't believe I forgot about the grasshopper and the ant when I bought all the classics. Thanks for the reminder. Many of Aesop's Fables are good too.

[AccuTron]

If I rattled my brain I might think of some, but I was an early reader, and read my own much of the time.  The one story that stands out, as limited as I can recall, is "Little Black Sambo" and you may guess at the name that it was in the sixties-seventies a suppressed story, didn't exist anymore, 'cause it was about a black kid.  (I search to find he's Indian.)

 

As I recall, the black kid outwitted, or just was lucky, in turning a tiger, threatening to eat Sambo, into butter, by making the tiger run in endless circles until it started to melt.  I need to look that up.  I note that it's a suppressed story, 'cause, like, ya' know, it was a black kid!  Never mind the kid survived a tiger, I'd think that would be a good lesson.

 

Ah, I looked it up.  Little Black Sambo - Full Text  His folks were named Mumbo and Jumbo, and Sambo was provided with very fine clothing, and went for a walk in the forest, where he was accosted by one tiger after another.  He bribed each tiger with part of his fine clothing, and each tiger felt it was then the grandest tiger of all, until Sambo ran out of bribes.  The tigers then disputed who was the grandest, and discarding the clothes, tore into each other.  They chased each other around a tree until they turned into butter (ghi), which was collected in a big brass pot, and used to make lots of pancakes for the family that night.  Sambo got his clothes back.  Darned if I see anything racist.

 

Banned From American Bookshelves: The Story Of Little Black Sambo | Long Island Book Collectors:

The values taught by The Story of Little Black Sambo are vitally important for the development of children in any society at any time, and LBS (as it will be referred to in the content of this article) is rarely matched in content or style by most other children’s stories, especially those of the late nineteenth century when Helen Bannerman wrote it for her children.  It stresses that bullying and greed (the tigers) accomplish nothing in the long run and that handling anxiety and stress calmly and positively with negotiation (Sambo) wins out in the end.  Those who work with children find that these concepts are invaluable for teaching today’s kids how to deal with their world, with many educational programs being devised recently to do just that.  This is probably why Little Black Sambo, by that or any other name, (Sam or Babaji, names used in modern versions) will continue to survive.

 

 

And now I'm hungry.

[Jaeger]

If I rattled my brain I might think of some, but I was an early reader, and read my own much of the time.  The one story that stands out, as limited as I can recall, is "Little Black Sambo" and you may guess at the name that it was in the sixties-seventies a suppressed story, didn't exist anymore, 'cause it was about a black kid.  (I search to find he's Indian.)

 

As I recall, the black kid outwitted, or just was lucky, in turning a tiger, threatening to eat Sambo, into butter, by making the tiger run in endless circles until it started to melt.  I need to look that up.  I note that it's a suppressed story, 'cause, like, ya' know, it was a black kid!  Never mind the kid survived a tiger, I'd think that would be a good lesson.

 

Ah, I looked it up.  Little Black Sambo - Full Text  His folks were named Mumbo and Jumbo, and Sambo was provided with very fine clothing, and went for a walk in the forest, where he was accosted by one tiger after another.  He bribed each tiger with part of his fine clothing, and each tiger felt it was then the grandest tiger of all, until Sambo ran out of bribes.  The tigers then disputed who was the grandest, and discarding the clothes, tore into each other.  They chased each other around a tree until they turned into butter (ghi), which was collected in a big brass pot, and used to make lots of pancakes for the family that night.  Sambo got his clothes back.  Darned if I see anything racist.

 

Banned From American Bookshelves: The Story Of Little Black Sambo | Long Island Book Collectors:

The values taught by The Story of Little Black Sambo are vitally important for the development of children in any society at any time, and LBS (as it will be referred to in the content of this article) is rarely matched in content or style by most other children’s stories, especially those of the late nineteenth century when Helen Bannerman wrote it for her children.  It stresses that bullying and greed (the tigers) accomplish nothing in the long run and that handling anxiety and stress calmly and positively with negotiation (Sambo) wins out in the end.  Those who work with children find that these concepts are invaluable for teaching today’s kids how to deal with their world, with many educational programs being devised recently to do just that.  This is probably why Little Black Sambo, by that or any other name, (Sam or Babaji, names used in modern versions) will continue to survive.

 

 

And now I'm hungry.

omg I remember that book.  Of course I was a kid in the seventies.  I remember it was my favorite book when I was 4 or 5.  I was really into tigers then.