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Title: Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, Blair Lent ISBN: 0-8050-0662-1 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 March, 1968 Format: School & Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.31 (52 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A sound-byte for your toddler
Comment: I first read this book in the 80s when I was babysitting. I gladly bought it for my child, primarily for the name rhyme . This book is not politically correct by our standards (it portrays some asian stereotypes; I'm no scholar, they might be historically accurate). Still, it tells an interesting, and different story. I find the illustrations remarkably good considering the genre (a faux chinese woodcut style?) and certainly different.
The story is as follows: two little boys, the older with the long name, and the younger with the short name, play near the well. The younger falls into the well, the older runs for help. Later, the older falls into the well, but the younger, seeking help, cannot get the older boy's name out to communicate the problem, as the name is soooooo long. Everyone lives. From there after, children were given short names.
Children like this book because of the boy's long, lyrical name. They love to say the name in rhyme -- but it seems to be a sound-byte, the rest of the story disappears. The illustrations are much different from many other books, and this is a good book to have on the shelf because it is so different in voice and illustrations.
Rating: 5
Summary: A great memory
Comment: Despite the fact that I am now 32 years old, I can tell you Tikki Tikki Tembo's full and complete name...I distinctly remember sitting on the floor of my school library on a rainy day in 2nd grade reading this book over and over and over again. I am not sure anyone else had the chance to read it that year, as I checked it out numerous times.
I am excited to read it to my own children now, and I hope that they will love the story as much as I did.
A definite MUST HAVE for a classic children's library!
Rating: 5
Summary: Not to be confused with Rikki tikki tavi
Comment: If you, like my pretty self, grew up reading (or being read) the tale of Tikki Tikki Tembo, then you already know exactly the correct cadences and tones to use when pronouncing his name. Come on, everybody! Say it along with me... Tikki Tikki Tembo-No Sa Rembo-Chari Bari Ruchi-Pip Peri Pembo. Whew! It's a mouthful, which is of course the point. In this book (originally published, I kid you not, in 1968) we learn about the dangers of over-monikering one's own offspring.
Two boys live with their mother near an old well. The eldest is considered the more important of the two, and his is the extraordinarily long name. His younger brother is named Chang. Chang and Tikki love one another, and when Chang falls into the well his brother rushes off to save him. Tikki fetches the old man with the ladder, who rescues the sodden boy. Later (not the same day, thankfully) the boys play around the well again and this time it's Tikki who has fallen in. When Chang attempts to tell his mother what has happened, it's all he can do to spout out that enormous mouthful of a name. When his mother finally understands, he too is sent to the old man with the ladder and a very similar scene occurs. In the end Tikki is rescued, though his prolonged well-exposure leaves him sick for a little while. Hence (according to this tale and, yes yes, not historically accurate in the least), "the Chinese have always thought it wise to give all their children little, short names instead of great long names".
When I was read this book as a kid I remember disliking small sections of it (whilst enjoying the entire thing as a whole). I felt bad for Chang, a boy whose name translated roughly to "little or nothing". Yet Chang and Tikki don't engage in any sibling rivalry or bad feelings. They play together as happily as can be. And though their mother does refer to Tikki with such names as "my first and honored son, heir of all I possess", the final shot of the book is Chang seated snugly on his mother's lap as they speak with the bed-ridden Tikki. So is the book racist? I dunno. Not to my eyes, though I've already admitted that having been read this book while a child, I'm biased towards it. I really don't think there's anything in here to seriously offend someone, unless becoming offended is their goal. Yes, we can all agree that the clothing is Japanese while the characters are Chinese. Confusing, certainly. And the last line in the story is a bit odd, but personally I don't feel it will turn your children into raving-mad racists. It's just an amusing story told with a great deal of zip and verve. Author Arlene Mosel has told it in such a way that the reader really enjoys repeated passages that say things like, "He pumped the water out of him and pushed the air into him, and pumped the water out of him and pushed the air into him". Blair Lent's illustrations are just as amusing and fun. Though a book of limited colors, it almost seems to the reader as if there are millions of subtle variations on the blues and greens shown throughout the story.
The fact of the matter is, this is just a great book. Top drawer. If you've an ability to tell a tale well, then it is a crime and shame that you are not reading this book to a little one right now. For as long as children enjoy hearing rhymes and syncopated rhythms, this book will remain a popular item.
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Title: The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Robert Lawson ISBN: 0670674249 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: January, 1936 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack, Kurt Wiese ISBN: 0140502416 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: August, 1977 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Five Chinese Brothers (Paperstar) by Claire Huchet Bishop, Kurt Wiese ISBN: 0698113578 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina ISBN: 0064431436 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 31 October, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton ISBN: 0395169615 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 09 September, 1939 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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