Tikki Tikki Tembo (1968)

by Arlene Mosel, Blair Lent (Illustrator)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
3,273	138	2,529	(4.06)	23

Add to Your books

Add to wishlist

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

Manijo, trinaclark, tburkholder, LJDevendorf, wdclimer, Paige-Flowers, ChengFamily, sara_k

numbers

show all

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

refresh

▾Member recommendations

00
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (gilberts)

▾Lists

Best children's picture books (47)

Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Award Program (Grades K-3) (37)

A Child's Book Tour of China (5)

» 1 more

Geek Dad Read to Your Kids List (51)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 23 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 138 (next | show all)

A classic that I read as a young child. It's still a great tale with many lessons hidden inside. (

)

cougargirl1967 | Mar 28, 2019 |

why tell a chinese folktale if u dont even care abt getting the chinese part rite?!? (

)

alexanme | Dec 9, 2018 |

This is a fun book that brings a Chinese folklore into the classroom.

KKoos | Dec 7, 2018 |

This book has a phrase, one of the child's name, that will stick with readers forever, and it tells an origin myth of why Chinese names are short today in a humorous way. (

)

astrot2 | Oct 15, 2018 |

Summary: This story is based on the Chinese folktale on why children are given shorter names. This story is about two brothers who are playing near a well and the older one, Tikki Tikki Tembo falls in. In the book, Tikki Tikki Tembo is translated into a longer name which ends up being a problem when the brother runs for help. The long name takes too long to be pronounced to others to help his brother before he drowns. This story is the reason the Chinese myth came about, that children's names are now only one syllable long.

Personal summary: This story is great for children to learn more about Chinese folktales and see how different they are than ours.

courtneytosto | Oct 1, 2018 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 138 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

1 review

add a review

thingScore unrated

I hope that people realize that "Tikki Tikki Tembo" contains very INCORRECT information about Chinese culture...What's even more disturbing is that the introduction written inside the book jacket made the story sound like a real folklore.

Below the review is a discussion of both the review and the book.

(URL missing because it had been changed by a spammer.)

added by MarthaJeanne | editChild_Lit, Shwu-yi Leu (Oct 2, 1998)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Arlene Mosel	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Lent, Blair	Illustrator	main author	all editions	confirmed

▾Work-to-work relationships

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Series (with order)

Canonical title

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1968

People/Characters

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

Chang

Important places

China

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (1968.3|Picture Book, 1968)

AISLE Read-Aloud Books Too Good To Miss (1991.1|Primary, 1991)

Library of Congress Children's Literature Center Children's Books (1968.01|Picture and Picture-Story Books, 1968)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Once, upon a time, a long, long time ago, it was the custom of all the fathers and mothers in China to give their first and honored sons great long long names.

Quotations

Her second son she called Chang, which meant "little or nothing." But her first and honored son, she called Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, which meant "the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world!"

"Unfortunate Son, surely the evil spirits have bewitched your tongue. Speak your brother's name with reverence."

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Publisher series

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

File:Cover of Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel.jpg

Tikki Tikki Tembo

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0312367481, Paperback)

If you haven't already read Tikki Tikki Tembo, you've probably heard at least someone recite the deliriously long name of its protagonist: Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, by now a famous refrain in most nursery schools. In this beautiful edition--complete with line and wash illustrations by artist Blair Lent--Arlene Mosel retells an old Chinese folktale about how the people of China came to give their children short names after traditionally giving their "first and honored" sons grand, long names. Tikki tikki tembo (which means "the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world") and his brother Chang (which means "little or nothing") get into trouble with a well, are saved by the Old Man with the Ladder, and change history while they're at it. Tikki Tikki Tembo is a perfect book to read aloud, but don't be surprised if you find yourself joining the ranks of its chanting followers. (Picture book)

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:22:03 -0400)

(see all 6 descriptions)

▾Library descriptions

When the eldest son fell in the well and most of the time getting help was spent pronouncing the name of the one in trouble, the Chinese, according to legend, decided to give all their children short names.

» see all 5 descriptions