Sam and the Tigers is about a place where the animals and the people work together, and all the people were named Sam. The little boy Sam, his mom Sam, and his Dad Sam went to the marketplace to buy some new clothes for the first day of school. Sam bought a red jacket from Mr. Elephant, purple pants from Mrs. Monkey, a yellow shirt from Miss Cat, silver shoes from Mr. Giraffe, and a green umbrella from Brer Rabbit. On Sam’s way to school he met a tiger who was going to eat him until Sam offered the tiger his red jacket. The tiger thought he was so fine, he left Sam alone. Then another tiger came, and another and another until Sam had given all of his new clothes away, even the umbrella. There were five tigers in all and each was the finest. The five tigers got to fighting over which one was the finest, so they took Sam’s clothes off and grabbed each others tails. The five tigers chased each other around a tree, while Sam put the clothes back on. The tigers chased each other in a circle so fast, they melted into butter. That night Sam, his family, and their neighbors had pancakes with tiger butter. This story reminded me of bullying because the tigers threatened Sam and took his clothes. However, in the long run bullies never truly win and neither did the tigers. This book was also illustrated by Jerry Pickney who brings a story to life through his pictures.
Other works by Julius Lester include The Scrambled States of America and More Stories to Celebrate Our Country, Long Journey home/Stories from Black History, To Be a Slave, John Henry, and Day of Tears.
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