Title: Tikki Tikki Tembo
Author:Arlene Mosel
Illustrator: Blair Lent
Publisher: Square Fish
Year: 1968, 2007
ISBN: 978-0312367480
Genre: folklore
Topics: names, siblings, multicultural, China, country life
Age Group: 1-6
Awards: Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Picture Book, 1968)
Dewey Category: 398.270951
Format: Picture Book
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel is one of my favorite books from childhood, probably for it’s protagonist’s impressionably long name, but a classic nonetheless. If you aren’t familiar with this story about two Chinese brothers who get into some trouble with a well, it is supposed to be a retelling of an old Chinese folktale. Whether this is valid or not, the story is fun and is supposed to explain why Chinese names are short.
Some consider issues of racism to arise in this book, because the long name (Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo) seems unpronounceable, and for the lack of actual Chinese sounds in the name, this book does not distinguish “Chinese” from other Asian languages—instead depicting them all as jibberish. Despite this drawback, I know many people who can still remember and pronounce his whole name, and the wash illustrations offer a dreamy depiction of Chinese “country life”. The boys are immersed in naturalistic landscape, with flowers, mountains and wells, they are dressed in traditional clothes; they fly kites, and eat rice while their mother washes clothes in the river.
As adults, we need to be wary of racism in multicultural books. But for a preschooler’s first impression of a culture, I wouldn’t say Tikki Tikki Tembo is a bad choice. It strives to explain differences, and it does so in fun way.
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