Sambo joins my banned book collection

I bought the children's book "Little Black Sambo" this week in a silent book auction at the Brownsburg Public Library. $13 was all it took and I can put it in with other books that have been burned or banned or death threats put on the authors.

I read "Little Black Sambo" again for the first time. It's a pretty good story of a little boy in India who outsmarts some vicious tigers. It also has a moral because the tigers illustrate the futility and undesirable consequences of stubborn rage. From what I've been able to understand the main objection to the book is the name "Sambo," but Sambo's parents' names are apparently not so objectionable: Mama Sari and Papa Simbu. In my opinion the book's illustrator has a much stranger name: Watty Piper. The publishers were Platt and Munk.

Other banned books on my shelf include:

The Holy Bible...banned in many places and times for a revolutionary message.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie...banned in India and Islamic countries for its mention of verses that have been removed from the Koran. It is considered blasphemous and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the author's death. Some book stores in some countries refuse to sell it out of fear.

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine...banned in the UK for blasphemy in the 18th Century.

Animal Farm by George Orwell...Publication delayed in UK because of anti-Stalin theme. Confiscated in Germany by Allied troops. Banned in Malaysia for religious reasons. I've never read this one but my curiosity is up now.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak...Published in Italy in 1957 it was banned within the USSR until 1988 for its criticism of the Bolsheviks Party. It was also a boring movie, yet with good music.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain...One of my all-time favorites. When I was a kid I would have liked to have gone on some of Tom Sawyer's and Huck's adventures. Banned in the USA for use of racial slurs.

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway...Banned in Spain during Francisco Franco rule for its pro-Republican views.

Now that I've purchased "Little Black Sambo" I think I'm going to get real reckless and try to find "Black Beauty" which was banned in South Africa because it has the word "black" in the title. (Honest, I'm not making this up)