Tikki Tikki Tembo and more stories to celebrate Asian heritage is one of the many DVDs in the Scholastic Storybook Treasures series.
My husband happened to be home sick on the day when I first opened this DVD, so the family snuggled up on the couch and watched it together. My husband announced his intentions to just lay down on the couch and sleep. Half through the DVD, still awake, he pipes up, “This is actually pretty good!” and it was. This has been my favourite of the handful of Scholastic Storybook Treasure DVDs that we have watched.
The majority of the stories on this disc have more of a folk or fairytale flavour to them that I really enjoyed.
The title story TIKKI TIKKI TEMBO (Written by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent) is a cute Chinese folktale that explains the danger in giving children terribly long names. According to the story, in ancient China it was customary for parents to honour their firstborn sons with long, elaborate names, while later sons were usually given short, unimportant names. G-Girl wanders around the house chanting the name of the main character Tikki Tikki Tembo-No Sa Rembo-Chari Bari Ruchi-Pip Peri Pembo, which is sort of fun to say. Go ahead, try it.
 |
| When Tikki Tikki Tembo-No Sa Rembo-Chari Bari Ruchi-Pip Peri Pembo falls down the well is takes so long for his younger brother Cheng to say his name that he almost drowns. |
In THE TALE OF THE MANDARIN DUCKS (Written by Katherine Paterson, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon, narrated by B. D. Wong) when a cruel emperor separates a mated pair a serving maid and her samurai lover take compassion upon the poor captured duck who is pining to death, and set it free, thus endangering their own lives. I enjoyed seeing this beautiful tale of love and fidelity by Katherine Paterson, the author behind one of my favourite children’s novels Bridge to Terabithia.
 |
| “The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other.” |
GRANDFATHER’S JOURNEY (Written and illustrated by Allen Say, narrated by B. D. Wong) is the story of a man who immigrated to the US, then returned to his home in Japan, married and moved back to the States, only to return again to Japan. Whenever he was in one home, he longed for the other, as his heart truly belonged in both places. I am such a sad sop. I spent the majority of the time when this story was on trying to hide the fact that I was crying.
THE STONECUTTER (Written and illustrated by Gerald McDermott) has a unique sort of abstract visual style, which works well for this Japanese folk tale of a lowly stonecutter who foolishly longs for more power.
I love how brave and clever the children are in LON PO PO: A RED-RIDING HOOD STORY FROM CHINA (Written and illustrated by Ed Young, narrated by B. D. Wong) This Asian version of the classic fairytale shows how three little sisters outwit the wolf who is trying to pose as their grandmama. This story was a bit scary for Rainbow the first time we watched it, but she warmed up to the tale pretty quickly.
SAM AND THE LUCKY MONEY (Written by Karen Chinn, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu, narrated by Ming-Na Wen) is a story about the Chinese tradition of spending “lucky money” on the Chinese New Year. The story delves a bit into the customs surrounding Chinese New Year, and has a sweet moral of generosity and giving. Rainbow particularly liked this story, having seen mentions of the Chinese New Year previously during episodes of Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat.
The suggested age range on this video is 4 to 10, which I think is pretty accurate. At 4 years old, Rainbow enjoys this video immensely. Her father and I also enjoyed watching it, and I could definitely see older kids appreciating this one as well. As with all of the Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVDs that I have had the pleasure to watch; the animation, the narration, the background music and sound effects were all top notch.
You can purchase Tikki Tikki Tembo and more stories to celebrate Asian heritage in Canada via Amazon.ca.
Leave a Reply