The Story of Little Black Sambo is a children's book written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman and published by Grant Richards in October 1899.

[1] However, it became an object of allegations of racism in the mid-20th century due to the names of the characters being racial slurs for dark-skinned people, and the fact that the illustrations were, as Langston Hughes expressed it, in the pickaninny style.

While out walking, Sambo encounters four hungry tigers, and he surrenders his colourful new clothes, shoes and umbrella so that they will not eat him.

[3] The book's original illustrations were created by the author and were simple in style, and depicted Sambo as a Southern Indian or Tamil child.

[7] During the mid-20th century, some American editions of the story, including a 1950 audio version on Peter Pan Records, changed the title to the racially neutral Little Brave Sambo.

These are still in print, and as of August 2011, an equally controversial "side story" for Little Black Sambo, called Ufu and Mufu, is being sold and merchandised in Japan.

[11] A 2003 printing with the original title substituted more racially sensitive illustrations by Christopher Bing, portraying Sambo, in his publisher's words, as "a glorious and unabashedly African child".

The protagonist is depicted as a black Labrador puppy that goes for a stroll in the jungle; no humans appear in the edition.

[citation needed] In 2004, a Little Golden Books edition was published under the title The Boy and the Tigers, with new names and illustrations by Valeria Petrone.

[16][17] In the story, Little Black Sambo (in India) goes for a walk in the jungle and encounters a variety of animals, each, in the style of Peter and the Wolf (which had been composed by Sergei Prokofiev three years before), with its own distinctive instrument (e.g., an elephant with a tuba, a "big baboon with a big bassoon", a honey bear with a "perfectly peach piccolo", and a long green snake "playing its scales").

[19] In 1961, the His Master's Voice Junior Record Club issued a dramatised version – words by David Croft, music by Cyril Ornadel – with Susan Hampshire in the title role and narrated by Ray Ellington.

When Mondo Owada is found guilty of murdering a fellow student, the headmaster of the academy executes him in the "Motorcycle Death Cage".

Owada is tied to the back of a motorcycle and sent to spin in circles in a large steel cage; spinning at this fast rate while the cage becomes charged with electricity causes Mondo to be electrocuted to a point of liquefying into a butter-like substance that is packaged as "Mondo Butter".

[23] Images inspired by the book (now considered by some to be racially insensitive) were common interior decorations in the restaurants.

The original location, owned by Battistone's grandson Chad Stevens, existed in Santa Barbara under the name "Sambo's" until June 2020.