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Jerry Pinkney's books
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From: Ginny Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:02:00 -0600
Thanks, Laura Manthey, for telling us something of what Jerry Pinkney said about creating Sam and the Tigers during his and Ms. Gloria Pinkney's recent bookstore appearance. Did Mr. Pinkney say anything about his personal memories of reading/seeing the original LBS? about the general thinking he and collaborator Julius Lester shared as they embarked on the project? about hearing from any African-American colleagues with a pessimistic forecast about the possible impact of this project and his responses to them?
Last weekend I was in one of the mega-bookstores involved - by its size and because it's one of many in a national chain - in establishing trends in book buying and, possibly, in book publishing for all ages. I was astonished to see a pile of new copies of LBS, looking just like "itself," meaning just like the original edition of LBS in the current CCBC exhibit "From Degradation to Dignity." I've always heard that the original LBS has been openly displayed and sold in some U.S. regions throughout the decades. I do not recall ever seeing it openly displayed in a bookstore anywhere. Next to the piles of LBS: piles of The Story of Little Babaji & piles of Sam and the Tigers! There's more.
The bookstore children's dept. monthly events flyer devoted considerable space to commentary about all three editions. Each of the three is listed in the flyer with ordering information, prices, etc. Selected quotes from the flyer commentary: "...[LBS] has long been a classic, adored by children for its simple folkloric story and images. It has also become highly controversial and despised for its racist illustrations and character names... all three books together provide a very instructive look at the way tellings may change with the teller and the values, mores, and prejudices of the time, and yet the basic stories survive... and wonderfully so." Anyone who had assumed, just as I had naively assumed until that moment, that Sam and the Tigers might take the place of LBS, was 100% wrong - at least at this point in time. It is still being promoted, displayed and sold. Is anyone else surprised about this?
Sam and the Tigers is the third project and sixth book on which Mr. Pinkney and Mr. Lester have collaborated to date. The others are John Henry (already a hero for African-American children and U.S. youth in general, by the way) and the Uncle Remus quartet (Tales of U.R., More Tales of U.R., Further Tales of U.R. and The Last Tales of U.R.)
As I recall, trepidation was expressed by several African-American colleagues when Tales of U.R. was first published. They asked themselves if this edition could revive a name or image hurtful to African-American children in the past. They hoped that the new U.R. would offer a new Uncle Remus to today's and tomorrow's youth. However, as a character in the stories, Uncle Remus was never cast as a hero, was he?
Jerry Pinkney's illustrations for these four retellings of U.R. tales certainly demonstrate his skill in the personification of animal characters. He excells at this. He did it once again in Sam and the Tigers. Thoughts on any of this?
Guess what! You are 471 in number. Four hundred and seventy-one participants are "out there" in the CCBC-NET discussion community! Remarkable! We know that many of you are thinking about this, because some of us saw each other in "real time" at the ALA ALSC/ALTA leadership institute last week. You told Megan, K.T., or me then that you are talking about Sam and the Tigers "back home." Can you share some of your local conversations about Sam and the Tigers? about John Henry? the "new" Uncle Remus stories? about any of Kathleen Horning's CCBC-NET comments on October 22? None of us has answers. But let's share our questions with each other. Sincerely, Ginny (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu)
***************************** Ginny Moore Kruse, Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St. Madison, WI 53706 USA
Received on Tue 29 Oct 1996 09:02:00 PM CST
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:02:00 -0600
Thanks, Laura Manthey, for telling us something of what Jerry Pinkney said about creating Sam and the Tigers during his and Ms. Gloria Pinkney's recent bookstore appearance. Did Mr. Pinkney say anything about his personal memories of reading/seeing the original LBS? about the general thinking he and collaborator Julius Lester shared as they embarked on the project? about hearing from any African-American colleagues with a pessimistic forecast about the possible impact of this project and his responses to them?
Last weekend I was in one of the mega-bookstores involved - by its size and because it's one of many in a national chain - in establishing trends in book buying and, possibly, in book publishing for all ages. I was astonished to see a pile of new copies of LBS, looking just like "itself," meaning just like the original edition of LBS in the current CCBC exhibit "From Degradation to Dignity." I've always heard that the original LBS has been openly displayed and sold in some U.S. regions throughout the decades. I do not recall ever seeing it openly displayed in a bookstore anywhere. Next to the piles of LBS: piles of The Story of Little Babaji & piles of Sam and the Tigers! There's more.
The bookstore children's dept. monthly events flyer devoted considerable space to commentary about all three editions. Each of the three is listed in the flyer with ordering information, prices, etc. Selected quotes from the flyer commentary: "...[LBS] has long been a classic, adored by children for its simple folkloric story and images. It has also become highly controversial and despised for its racist illustrations and character names... all three books together provide a very instructive look at the way tellings may change with the teller and the values, mores, and prejudices of the time, and yet the basic stories survive... and wonderfully so." Anyone who had assumed, just as I had naively assumed until that moment, that Sam and the Tigers might take the place of LBS, was 100% wrong - at least at this point in time. It is still being promoted, displayed and sold. Is anyone else surprised about this?
Sam and the Tigers is the third project and sixth book on which Mr. Pinkney and Mr. Lester have collaborated to date. The others are John Henry (already a hero for African-American children and U.S. youth in general, by the way) and the Uncle Remus quartet (Tales of U.R., More Tales of U.R., Further Tales of U.R. and The Last Tales of U.R.)
As I recall, trepidation was expressed by several African-American colleagues when Tales of U.R. was first published. They asked themselves if this edition could revive a name or image hurtful to African-American children in the past. They hoped that the new U.R. would offer a new Uncle Remus to today's and tomorrow's youth. However, as a character in the stories, Uncle Remus was never cast as a hero, was he?
Jerry Pinkney's illustrations for these four retellings of U.R. tales certainly demonstrate his skill in the personification of animal characters. He excells at this. He did it once again in Sam and the Tigers. Thoughts on any of this?
Guess what! You are 471 in number. Four hundred and seventy-one participants are "out there" in the CCBC-NET discussion community! Remarkable! We know that many of you are thinking about this, because some of us saw each other in "real time" at the ALA ALSC/ALTA leadership institute last week. You told Megan, K.T., or me then that you are talking about Sam and the Tigers "back home." Can you share some of your local conversations about Sam and the Tigers? about John Henry? the "new" Uncle Remus stories? about any of Kathleen Horning's CCBC-NET comments on October 22? None of us has answers. But let's share our questions with each other. Sincerely, Ginny (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu)
***************************** Ginny Moore Kruse, Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St. Madison, WI 53706 USA
Received on Tue 29 Oct 1996 09:02:00 PM CST
