![]() She looked me in the eye and said, "It's racist." I had never heard those words before, so I asked her, "What does that mean?" The quiet seriousness of her response struck me. A Chinese-American friend was talking about the way other kids chanted "Tikki Tikki Tembo" around her. My first encounter with Tikki Tikki Tembo occurred around middle school. ![]() ![]() And to tell you the truth, I felt uneasy. "In music class, at school," she replied. When I overheard my half-Chinese/half-Caucasian 6-year-old daughter singing the name a couple months ago, I had to ask her where she learned it. ( ) The Fall 2009 Audio Book version was Parents' Choice Approved by the Parents' Choice Foundation. ( ) In 1997, the New York Times named it "one of the 50 best books in the last 50 years." ( ) In 2007, the book was #53 on the National Education Association's Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children. In 1968, it won the Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Picture Books. I think it's good food for thought:Īs a child, did you love Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel? Did you find the absurdly long name "Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo" intoxicatingly fun to chant or sing? First published in 1968, the book has won some honors: With Irene's permission, I've republished her blog post here (her blog is private) for people to read. When I read it, I suddenly thought, Oh that's why I felt weird! So, when a friend of mine, recently sent me this blog post written by Irene Rideout, a lightbulb went on. They had all worked hard on it and I was very grateful for the warm welcome the school gave me, yet deep down I felt a strange awkwardness that I couldn't put my finger on. The kids were absolutely great, the teachers were quite lovely and the play was really well done. ![]() Once, I visited a school where the kids put on a play of Tikki Tikki Tembo, in my honor. ![]()
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