Tikki Tikki Tembo

by Arlene Mosel

Book Overview

Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-
chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo!

Five decades and more than one million copies later children still love hearing about the boy with the long name who fell down the well. Arlene Mosel and Blair Lent's classic has hooked legions of children, teachers, and parents, who return, generation after generation, to shout the name of Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo.

Tikki...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805006621
• ISBN13: 9780805006629
• Release Date: March 1968
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.8" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A Beautiful Memory from Childhood

The wonderful rhythm of Tiki Tiki Tembo's name has been with me since childhood. Every time it was said, I couldn't help but say it too. The book is beautiful, the story is short but memorable. What a joy it will be to read to my grandchildren.

One of My Favorite Childhood Books

It’s a great book!

Nostalgic Fun!

After recently finding a copy of this childhood treasure in my attic, I was reminded of how much I loved having this story read to me as a child. This book was read to me over 30 years ago. Ironically, I was even able to recite Tikki's entire full name without having to peer inside the book. Talk about lasting impressions! This is a great classic for parents to read to their young children and there is something very warm and appealing about about the story, and the simple illustrations that will captivate your child's heart. It's refreshing to see that this enjoyable book is still available and being read to children.

Not to be confused with Rikki tikki tavi

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 a

A perpetual favorite in our elementary school

Tikki Tikki Tembo is a perpetual favorite read-aloud book in our elementary school library and works well all the way up to third or fourth grade. Today I got it out to read to a first grade class that incidentally had heard it yesterday from their classroom teacher. After I offered to read something else by the same author, they begged me to read Tikki Tikki Tembo to them again. Students love to chant Tikki's long name each time they hear it.Whether or not this is an authentic Chinese folktale, it is a humorous attention-getter that still has a good moral to it. It does provide an opportunity to point out how Chinese names are usually shorter than Japanese names, something most kids in our school would not be aware of.What amazes me is that in this age of fancy graphics students still are drawn to these simple illustrations.A recommended read-aloud!

A Great Book for Reading Aloud or Retelling

"Tikki" is over thirty years old, and still going strong. I am a storyteller, and I love to retell the story of the little boy with the outlandishly long name (giving full credit to Arlene Mosel, of course!). Having learned Chinese, and spent some time in China, I do not try to pass it off as an authentic Chinese folktale. Mosel wrote it to have fun, and those of us who read and tell the story must do it in the same vein. Knowing that I am an old man and that my mental faculties may be fading a bit, my granddaughter, upon hearing me tell it for the first time, asked, "Grandpa, how long did it take you to learn to say that name?" I told her several days of practice (not mentioning that a class of first graders could probably do it in two tries!). Three cheers for Arlene Mosel! God willing, the electronic world will not have completely eradicated the printed word, and Tikki Tikki Tembo will be still be around at the turn of the next millenium!

Tikki Tikki Tembo, a story to share

Tikki Tikki Tembo was my favorite book to read and have read to me as a child. I love it so much that when i went away to college, i decided to bring it with me and read it to all of my friends. they love it too!