Epaminondas and His Auntie
Epaminondas and His Auntie is one of a series of books for young children written by Sara Cone Bryant and illustrated by Inez Hogan. It was first published in 1907.
The Epaminondas character is a young black boy, and the stories are based on folk tales from the Southern states of the U.S. Like Helen Bannerman's The Story of Little Black Sambo, which was originally written about a boy from Southern India but was later illustrated in many printings with stereotypes of black Americans, the Epaminondas books have been criticized as having racist overtones and stereotypes.
The stories' texts focus on and derive their humor from the problem of miscommunication between adults and children. This same concept of ridiculous/comical scenarios due to simple misunderstandings is also the basis for the famous Amelia Bedelia book series.
Later versions of the tale were published by Constance Egan, Eve Merriam, Mary Claire Pinckney and Cathy East Dubowski.*
