One of my favorite children’s books is Tikki Tikki Tembo.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this.  Come on, “Tikki Tikki Tembo, No Sa Rembo, Chari Bari Ruchi, Pip Peri Pembo” you know the song. Well, in honor of upcoming Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month (May) Scholastic Storybook Treasures is releasing Tikki Tikki Tembo and 5 other unique Asian founded stories.  I absolutely love these read-along DVDs as they are just so wonderful for kids of a wide age range.  You can turn off the feature for young kids, and then turn it on as they are learning to read.  Once you have a pretty good reader, it’s like having an extra bedtime story read to them.  Plus, it’s Tikki Tikki Tembo!!

I’m sure most of you know the tale of Tikki Tikki Tembo.   The classic picture book by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent is what most are familiar with.  Basically, it is an old Chinese folk-tale of how the Chinese came to give notoriously short names to their kids.  This came about after giving the first born sons a long, grand name.  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.  This DVD version of 6 classic folk tales is truly unique and a joy to watch.  It is necessary to teach your kids about other heritages, and what better way than through the stories parents are reading to their kids in other parts of the world?  The vivid animation is eye-catching and my daughter watched this one a couple nights in a row.  It’s officially made it to regular bedtime rotation.

The additional stories include:

• The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks
• Grandfather’s Journey
• The Stonecutter
• Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China
• Sam and the Lucky Monkey

The DVD has a run time of 66 minutes  and releases April 26, 2011. Preorder

Special thanks to New Kideo for providing samples for review purposes.