Tikki Tikki Tembo

As a kid this was one of my favorite books with the silly way it develops.

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.

It’s a great book!

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.

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!

"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 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!