As a child, I loved this story. I admired the boy at the centre of the story. He had huge courage in the face of great danger. He was clever and outwitted his assailants. He was well loved by his mother and father. He was proud of his beautiful clothes and shoes. I wanted a pair of crimson soled shoes so much. Best of all he got to eat as many pancakes as he liked.

I wanted to be brave and clever, just like "Little Black Sambo".

When I became a parent, I wanted to share the joy of this story with my children but it had become difficult to procure. When I did find a copy, I spoke about the changes in language that reflected the changes in societal expectations. I was able to explain why the names of the characters are insulting and unacceptable by today's standards. The book became an historical teaching tool.

Sometimes in reading the story, I add my own embellishments. My children have loved it too.

I have read a few attempts to modernise the story but they do not capture the wonder of the character in the original work.

I still love this story and still read it to children of all ages. ( )

I always thought this was a wonderful book because it showed how smart the little boy was in the end ( )

I always thought this was a wonderful book because it showed how smart the little boy was in the end ( )

Sambo is a South Indian boy who lives with his father and mother,
named Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo, respectively. While out walking,
Sambo encounters four hungry tigers, and he surrenders his colorful
new clothes, shoes and umbrella so that they will not eat him.
The tigers are vain and each thinks that it is better dressed than the others.
They have a massive argument and chase each other around a tree until
they are reduced to a pool of ghee (clarified butter). Sambo recovers
his clothes and goes home, and his father later collects the ghee,
which his mother uses to make pancakes

Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman (February 25, 1862 – October 13, 1946)
was a Scottish author of children's books.

"Oh, wow." I think I said something like that when I saw this little book. I was booking with my friend Chris, something we did on a regular basis and will do again when the virus fades. We make the rounds to several thrift stores and Goodwills in the area.

I grabbed this book for a couple reasons. It has a place in literary history and I actually remember reading the story as a kid. I can still picture the tigers racing around the tree.

But seeing the title made me immediately wonder about the content and whether it would be acceptable today.

The preface explains the author made up this story for her daughters while on a train trip. The preface says:

"Once upon a time there was an English lady in India, where black children abound and tigers are everyday affairs, who had two little girls. To amuse these little girls she used now and then to invent stories, for which, being extremely talented, she also drew and coloured the pictures."

The book was first published in 1899 and was poplar for a long time. The book then actually praised for presenting black characters as heroes. (The young boy was very brave and did outsmart the tigers.)

In the mid-20th century, the book was blasted for the names of the characters and the illustrations. Apparently major revisions have been made to the book since this edition. By the way, I found an online auction site where this edition sold for $162.50.

When I lived in Joliet in the '70s there was a restaurant called Sambos. At the time I felt the name was inappropriate.
I found this bit of history:

"Sambo's was a popular US restaurant chain of the 1950s through 1970s that borrowed characters from the book (including Sambo and the tigers) for promotional purposes, although the Sambo name was originally a blend of the founders' names and nicknames: Sam (Sam Battistone) and Bo (Newell Bohnett).

"For a period in the late 1970s, some locations were renamed "The Jolly Tiger". The controversy about the book led to accusations of racism that contributed to the 1,117-restaurant chain's demise in the early 1980s. Images inspired by the book (now considered by some racially insensitive) were common interior decorations in the restaurants. Though portions of the original chain were renamed "No Place Like Sam's" to try to forestall closure, all but the original restaurants in Santa Barbara, California, had closed by 1983.

The original location, owned by Battistone's grandson Chad Stevens, existed in Santa Barbara under the name "Sambo's" until June 2020. The name on the original Sambo's sign was temporarily changed to the motto "☮ & LOVE" (where "☮" is the Unicode symbol for "peace,"), due to pressure from the Black Lives Matter group during the George Floyd protests and a separate signature drive that collected thousands of signatures. In July 2020, the restaurant was officially renamed to "Chad's."

So ... lot of history behind this little book. ( )