Customer Reviews

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a child, I grew up with Kipling stories. My mother would read me "Just So Stories" and selections from the surprisingly long and complex, "Jungle Book" when I was just a wee lass. And had this lush and lovely version of "Rikki-tikki-tavi" been available to me when I was a kid, I've little doubt that I'd have devoured it just as readily as I did tales like, "How the Elephant Got His Trunk". Though I missed out on "Rikki-tikki-tavi" the written tale, I did take great pleasure in the 1975 Chuck Jones animated (with voices by Orson Wells and June Foray) faithful film of the same story. For those of you eager to instill in your children a sharp jolt of Kipling to the veins, I suggest you start them out on "Rikki", both the film and this lovely picture book, then move on slowly to "Just So Stories" and finally, "The Jungle Book" (but not THAT film). Then, years later, when you're trying to get them to read "Stalkey and Company", you'll have already hooked 'em young.

"This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought, all by himself, through the English family's house in India". After finding a half-drowned mongoose outside his home, a young boy named Teddy and his family take in the little creature and nurse him to health. A naturally curious creature, the mongoose (named, you must have guessed, Rikki-tikki-tavi for the sounds he makes) explores the home and decides to stay. Good thing that he does too. Lurking in the garden is the deadly cobra Nag and his wife Nagaina. The snakes determine that Rikki is a threat to their unhatched children and decide that if the family dies then Rikki will leave the area. Now Rikki, with the help of the tailor birds Darzee and his wife, must defeat the snakes and defend the family that was kind enough to take him in.

Like "The Secret Garden", this is one of those early children's books that taught me a heckuva lot about British colonialism. When I was a kid, I just could not figure out what the English were doing in India in books like this one. Now, there's little doubt that the danger the family faces mostly comes from the fact that Rikki was in their house in the first place. Nag and Nagaina only plan to kill the family because they believe that Rikki will leave if they do. One element to this tale that I enjoyed was the role that the female creatures take in it. Admittedly, Teddy's mother is so faint of heart that she, "wouldn't think of anything so awful", as the possibility of a snake in her boy's bedroom. But Nagaina is far more powerful than her husband and Darzee's wife (who, unfortunately, hasn't a name of her own) is the one who helps Rikki out in the end. Not her silly hubby.

By the way, someone should let the tailor birds know that when a mongoose is hungry and isn't eating snakes, its next favorite food is bird eggs. If you don't believe me, ask someone from Hawaii sometime. The release of mongoose in Hawaii (to combat the rats) not only decimated the reptiles but also severely reduced the native bird populations. Just FYI.

It is true that Pinkney has edited down and simplified the words of Kipling's original tale to make it more palatable to young ears. Far more criminal than the editing though is the fact that Pinkney makes NO mention of the fact that he has done so anywhere in the book. I've scoured the publication page, title page, and bookflaps for Pinkney's explanation of the change. Nuthin'. For those first time "Tikki" readers, this version will strike them as being the original Kipling text. Pinkney could have at least admitted the changes he made. That he didn't is irresponsible.

Otherwise, it's hard to object to this book. The illustrations are classic Pinkney with Rikki a very realistic (and not particularly cute) mongoose. Knowing Pinkney's fine attention to detail, I wouldn't put it past him to have carefully researched the kinds of plants, birds, and snakes found in India for these lush watercolors. The clothing of the human characters definitely doesn't belong to the days of Kipling, of course. They look far more contemporary, which is fine. The nice thing about "Rikki-tikki-tavi" is that it can really belong to any era.

This is a story that has always been, and will always remain, a classic in the hearts and minds of children everywhere. Pinkney is not the first children's illustrator to adapt this tale. That honor may fall to Lambert Davis. If you are looking for a version of this tale that has NOT been edited down, locate the Davis version (which Amazon.com has inexplicably linked to the Pinkney reviews). Otherwise, for superior pictures and a gripping tale, Pinkney's the man to turn to. A wonderful tale and an even better mongoose.

This has been rewritten to dumb it down. The beautiful language originally used by him has been replaced with dumber versions, and entire paragraphs have been removed. As someone who read and loved the original story as a child, I was very disappointed to see this when I began reading it to my 7 year old son.

I first had this book read to me when I was seven by my father who was a diplomat stationed in New Delhi, India. It continues to bring India alive to me and I have often re-read it as an adult. It invariably causes my heart to race during the most exciting adventure scenes, and leaves me teary-eyed with emotion at Rikki's ultimate triumph. I cannot recall any adult novel with a more gripping and exciting description of a battle than Rikki's nighttime fight to the death with Nag, the Cobra, in the bathroom of the bungalow! Rudyard Kipling is a genius and his stories for children are brilliant in that he never makes animals and their actions "silly" (check out "The Elephant's Child" and some of his others for very young audiences). Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is all about heroism and love, and every child and adult who reads this book will cherish it forever.

There are two schools of thought regarding illustrated adaptations of literary classics. One school holds that stories that are simplified for early listeners can be ruined in the process, because the listener's first experience doesn't contain the beauty and depth of the original. The second school holds that well-written adaptations can serve as stepping-stones to original works, making them more accessible. I am still between the two camps, but in making decisions about specific classic titles I ask two questions:

1. Is the story content appropriate for a reading level that can't yet master the language in the original? If not, it's probably better to wait until a child is linguistically and emotionally ready for the original.
2. Is the quality of the adaptation high enough that it entices, rather than discourages, readers to explore further? If it can't stand on its own merit but only piggybacks on the original's popularity, it may cause the reader to associate the original with mediocrity.

The answer to question 1 will be different for different families and readers. I would say that Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a young Indian mongoose who is adopted by a British family and drives the venomous snakes out of their home and garden, may appeal more to boys than girls, and parents of sensitive children should certainly screen this book since it contains dramatic animal violence, multiple attempted murders by talking snakes (in one of these a child is threatened), and Rikki-Tikki's merciless execution of many cobras in their eggs. But this story is a classic for good reason: Rikki-Tikki exemplifies courage, loyalty, defending the helpless, and a relentless commitment to oppose the evil snakes regardless of the cost. Every child will want a pet mongoose after experiencing this story.

As for question 2, Pinkney's adaptation uses modern language, retaining almost none of Kipling's masterful language, but telling the story very well. What really makes this book are his lavish, exuberant watercolor paintings which draw the reader in and dramatize the story in a very vivid way.

I recommend this story for children who are able to tolerate suspense and conflict, who have no reptile phobias, and who are transitioning out of the picture-book stage but are not yet ready for Kipling's sometimes challenging language. Although this book could stand on its own as a part of a home library, I recommend that it ought to be followed very closely by a version with the original language. Once the story is understood, this method will provide a great opportunity for vocabulary expansion and an appreciation of more elevated prose.

In the story, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a mongoose. When a flood washed him away from his home, he is adopted by Teddy and his family. While exploring the garden, he meets Nag and Nagaina, two deadly cobras. Later that night, he overhears the cobras' plot to enter Teddy's house and kill his family. When Nag and Nagaina get inside, Rikki attacks and kills Nag in Teddy's bathroom. The next day, Rikki finds Nagaina's eggs on the ground and begins crushing all of the eggs except for one. When Nagaina threatens to kill Teddy, Rikki distracts her by threatening to destroy her last egg. Then, Rikki chased Nagaina into her hole in the garden and kills her. From then on, Teddy's family hailed Rikki-Tikki-Tavi as a hero for saving them from the two deadly cobras.

I also love Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and remember it from when I was a little girl... and I also remember another story that I think you have this one mixed up with. You were wondering why nobody knew what you were talking about when you said you remembered it as "rikki-tikki-tembo-noserembo-charley-barley-ruchi-pip-berry-pembo"... Well that's because it (your version is just slightly off) is from the story Tikki Tikki Tembo as retold to Arlene Mosel & illustrated by Blair Lent. When the oldest son of a Chinese family is born, it was custom to honor them with long names. The oldest son in this story is Tikki-tiki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, which meant "the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world!" Well, Rikki tikki tembo and his little brother Chang are playing and Chang falls into the well. Rikki tikki tembo runs and tells his mother who tells him to fetch the old man with the ladder to fish him out. It's a long way to the well & back, over walls and up hills and steps and it's hard work and they are out of breath but they save Chang. A few months later the brothers are again playing when Rikki tikki tembo now falls into the well. Chang must run a long way up and down the mountain and over walls and steps and is out of breath when he finally reaches his mother and can't say his brother's really long name. Chang gasps and coughs and sputters and stutters, all the while his mother is telling him to speak his brother's name with reverence. Chang thinks that surely Rikki tikki tembo must have drowned by now? He finally gets out his brother's full name and his mother sends him to fetch the old man with the ladder. But the old man doesn't want to be disturbed from his dream and besides Chang doesn't think that he can get his brother's long name out again so he tells the old man that his mother's precious pearl has fallen into the well. With that the old man gets up and they finally pull Rikki tikki tembo up from the well. But because Rikki-tikki-tembo was in the well so long, it took him a long time to recover. And from that moment on the Chinese have always thought it wise to give their children little, short names instead of great long names... I am not sure why I was compelled to give that much detail to that story and none to Rikki-tikki-tavi, but there you have it... I hope that cleared up the confusion for the previous reviewer.

I thought this was a wonderful version of Rudyard Kipling's book, with beautiful watercolor illustrations. My son loved the story of the mongoose vs. the cobra, and the perspective from the animal's view. The illustrations really make the book!

I loved this story as a child, and recently bought this for my daughter. It's been tough getting her to sleep since we began reading this together.

Rudyard Kipling's story is as wonderful here as it always is, but the artwork is this edition by Lambert Davis is muted, static, and downright boring. There's no sense of motion or emotion in the art, even for the action scenes. The birds aren't bad but the snakes and the mammals look more like plastic models than real animals -- especially Rikki. A real disappointment, especially for those raised on the Rikki video.

I bought this book for my child who was at the time 5 years old. It has become his favorite book and he always chooses it when he's asked to bring in a favorite book. The illustrations are beautiful and it serves the classic story very well. Though it is a bit lengthy for a bedtime story, it is one book that I never mind reading to him. I would recommend this book for any child who has an adventurous side.