Description
This 2006 retelling of The Story of Little Black Sambo re-races and regenders Bannerman’s ethnically ambiguous boy as Toby Littlewood, a white girl. The narrative closely adheres to the plot of Helen Bannerman’s original text, following Toby as she trades her clothing to various North American wild animals. The book concludes with the animals disputing who is the “grandest beast, West or East!” and melting into syrup, which Toby pours on a towering stack of pancakes and consumes.
Significantly, by recasting Sambo as a white girl, Isaacs and Teague appropriate Bannerman’s narrative and reinforce dominant cultural discourses that falsely frame white as a ‘default’ or ‘neutral’ race. Additionally, this whitewashing extends beyond the characters’ skin to the almost-unacknowledged ‘inspiration’ for their text. The paratext at the back of the book provides a very brief, sanitized summary of Bannerman’s original: “Pancakes for Supper! is based on The Story of Little Black Sambo, written by Helen Bannerman and first published in 1899. Setting the present story in New England, Anne Isaacs blends elements from American storytelling traditions and Bannerman’s tale, while introducing animals indigenous to North America and an indomitable new heroine” (Isaacs).
Creator(s)
Anne Isaacs (author) and Mark Teague (illustrator)
Publisher
Scholastics, Inc
Publication Date
2006
Format
9.2 x 0.5 x 12.2 inches
Language
English