Sam, Bangs & Moonshine (Owlet Book)

Sam and Bangs live in a fishing community, where her father works with the other men at sea. Prone to telling tale of gross exaggeration, Sam is warned repeatedly by her father not to tell "moonshine" (as he refers to her tales and stories). One day, Sam's father encourages her to go a whole day without indulging in moonshine, and then he's off. While gone, Sam's younger friend Thomas arrives to inquire after her supposed pet of a baby kangaroo. Every day Thomas asks to see the pet, and every day Sam tells him that it just left and where Thomas can go to find it. On this particular day Sam sends the boy to a "cave behind Blue Rock". As Thomas leaves Bangs remarks (as the wise old cat was wont to do) that the tide rises early at Blue Rock that day. Sam doesn't wish to have anything to do with the matter so Bangs goes himself to find Thomas. When the rain begins to fall heavily and neither Thomas nor Bangs return, Sam gets a rude awakening as to the extent to which moonshine can harm the ones she loves.

The book ends happily, I assure you, but there are some harrowing moments. The scene in which Sam sobs against her father's chair, her dad sitting with his back to her and his face sorrowful and long, is heartwrenching. I really did feel that the book was a cut above the other picture books out there on a variety of different levels. The story is exceedingly well written. In the climax of Sam's self-discovery, she sits in bed pondering (at her father's suggestion) the difference between real and moonshine. "Moonshine was a mermaid-mother, a fierce lion, a chariot drawn by dragons, and certainly a baby kangaroo...Real was no mother at all. Real was her father and Bangs. And now there wasn't even Bangs". Here we get a glimpse into what makes Sam tick. Her mother died long ago, leaving her little daughter to pretend that it was not so. What child could easily face her mother's death at such a young age? Sam is undoubtedly not the first child to pretend such glorious things when she is blue.

Ness's story is remarkable, but her illustrations are really what gave this book the attention it deserved. Ness was a commercial artist at one time, and her pictures are an amazing mixture of print, pen and ink, and a four-color pallet of blue, maroon, navy, and mustard. She is simultaneously realistic and fantastical. Also, she has drawn the most lifelike cat I've seen in a book in a long long time. Bangs is spot on. I can only assume that Ness used a real cat as a model, so well done is the feline.

Altogether "Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine" is a beautifully laid out piece of, to my mind, relative obscure material. Only its Caldecott Medal status has kept it in the public eye for as long as it has. This is a bit of a shame when you consider how great the book is when discovered. Should you happen to have a child that is prone to extravagant imaginings and lurid tales, this may be the book for them. Should you happen to have a child that lost a parent at a young age, this may be the book for them. And should you happen to have a child period, this may be the book for them. It's an excellently written picture book that fully deserves both its credit and its praise.


A Telling Tale   March 8, 2001
Professor Donald Mitchell (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 97,000 Helpful Votes Globally)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

Sam (Samantha) is a young lady whose father is a fisherman on a small island. Her mother is dead, and she is close to her cat, Bangs, who mentally serves as her surrogate parrent when her father is gone on his boat. Being a little lonely, she has an active fantasy life. Those imaginings creep out into her conversations. "Not even the sailors home from the sea could tell stranger stories than Sam."

Her father is concerned about this, and asks her to talk "REAL, not MOONSHINE. MOONSHINE spells trouble." "Sam promised."

The only problem was that she would slip a bit. Thomas believed everything she said. What could happen as a result?

This book won the 1967 Caldecott award for the best illustrated children's story. You will find that the black and brown outlines and washes contrast with white to create stark and emotionally laden images. The heaviness of losing her mother weighs on the reader as well as on Sam. When problems loom, the coloring becomes darker and stronger. You will feel like powerful music is playing in the background. There is an operatic quality here with story, lines in the illustrations, and illustration coloring echoing one another to heighten the effects.

The story itself is the best one I have seen for examining the issues around fantasies imagined by children. Nice distinctions are made between internally experienced and externally verbalized fantasies, and also between dangerous and nondangerous ways of verbalizing.

We all love a good story, so you don't want to banish your child's imagination totally. This book should help you to channel that imagination more constructively. The example in the book is so extreme that most children will see the lesson easily, without feeling that the story is aimed directly at them.

Unlike most children's books, this one has a lot of drama and emotion to it. Although simply written and illustrated, it contains the elements of a grander story of the sort that adults would love if garbed as a full-scale novel. I kept thinking about how Stephen King would have done a treatment of the same story for adults.

After you read this modern version of Aesop's Fables, consider how else you can use fictional stories to convey important lessons to those you love and care about.

Communicate with the best interests of the listener or reader in mind!


The difference between moonshine and reality.   May 15, 1999
R. D. Allison (dallison@biochem.med.ufl.edu) (Gainesville, Florida, USA)
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

A small book for children about a little girl ("Sam") who keeps telling wild tales ("moonshine") that eventually cause troubles. She has to be able to distinguish her wild tales from reality. This book can lead to interesting and worthwhile discussions between a parent and and their child. The book won the 1967 Caldecott Medal for best illustrations in a book for children.


'MOONSHINE' Good and Bad   February 5, 2006
T.K. Wren
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine written and illustrated by Evaline Ness was the 1967 winner of the Caldecott Medal and rightfully so. The story takes place on a small island probably on the New England coast and the illustrations portray this very well. The lack of color, using only brown and black outlines sets the mood and gives the story that small fishing community feel. The lighthouse in the illustrations has a striking resemblance to the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Maine. Evaline Ness, born in Union City, Ohio on April 24, 1911 grew up in Pontiac, Michigan and became a wonderful writer and illustrator. She delivered her words and visions in absolute harmony of one another.

Sam is a young girl with a huge imagination and a tendency to tell stories. She lives with her father and Bangs, her wise cat. Sam's father is a fisherman and she spends lots of time alone, time to fantasize . . . "Sam said she had a fierce lion at home, and a baby kangaroo." The author explains that what she really has at home is an "old wise cat called Bangs." Early in the story Sam's father encourages her to ". . . talk REAL not MOONSHINE. MOONSHINE spells trouble." That day Sam's friend Thomas rode his bike down and pleaded with her to see her baby kangaroo. Every day she told him that it had just "stepped out." Thomas believed everything Sam told him and he would search high and low to find this baby kangaroo.

On that particular day Sam said that her baby kangaroo just left to visit with her mermaid mother who lived in a cave behind Blue Rock. Of course Thomas races off to Blue Rock. Sam was reminded by her talking cat Bangs that when the tide comes in it covers the road to Blue Rock and that the ". . . tide rises early today." Sam doesn't give it a second thought she continues on in her world of imagination . . . "Pardon me while I go to the moon." Bangs followed Thomas. It is at this moment when Sam begins to realize that "MOONSHINE" may not always be a good thing. The illustrations become darker harmonizing with the mood. "Sam stood there . . . , trying to swallow the lump that rose in her throat."
The story ends happily, just as any children's book should but teaches an important lesson about good "MOONSHINE" and bad. Children need to be encouraged to imagine and create but this story can help direct them in a more positive direction.
I enjoyed this book very much and I'll be looking for more books by Evaline Ness.


A Classic...don't pass it up   September 13, 2005
Tracy Price-Thompson
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I read this book more than thirty five years ago and I still remember it vividly. I was about 6 or 7 years old when I first checked it out of the library, and that windy harbor and Sam's personality has stayed with me all these years. I am ordering a copy for my youngest daughter and hope the power of these words impresses her the same way they impressed me as a child. Oh! The joy of reading a good book!
Tracy Price-Thompson, author of A Woman's Worth.