Editorial Review
"Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!"
A classic story from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, adapted and illustrated by award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney, this is the tale of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a fearless young mongoose.
Soon after a flood washes Rikki into the garden of an English family, he comes face-to-face with Nag and Nagaina, two giant cobras. The snakes are willing to attack Rikki, and even the human family who lives there, to claim the garden and house for themselves. But they do not count on the heart and pride of the brave little mongoose.
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Customer Reviews
Wonderful! 
2008-10-07
An adaption of Rudyard Kipling's tale. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a mongoose found out in the rain by a small boy named Teddy. The family brings him inside and quickly makes a pet of him, though the parents argue over Rikki-Tikki-Tavi's ability to protect Teddy. This leads to all the chaos one could hope for. The story is a bit violent, what with all the killing, but I think older readers would actually enjoy the excitement and action--I did! Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a rather unique hero: a mongoose that wants to protect his family but in all honesty would rather be playing. He's very likeable, and so are the other characters. If nothing else, this is a great introduction to classic authors like Rudyard Kipling. There are a lot of words on each page, so it's not really a two-minute read for young children. But again, I think this book would be better appreciated by older readers who have time to tackle the long pages. It'd also be a blast for a read-aloud.
A good introduction to Kipling for young children 
2008-07-26
This is a book version of the Chuck Jones cartoon that aired on CBS in 1975. I recommend you buy the DVD and the book together, so that little kids can hear the characters' voices.
Don't let the other reviewers dissuade you from buying this book because it is an edited version of The Jungle Book. I have a five-year old and a four-year old and they enjoy this shorter version. I'll introduce them to the original book in a couple of years.
Riki Tiki Tavi 2008-07-04
I was happy to find this book out there. I have fond memories of reading it many years ago in school. I still think it is a great story.
Good story 2008-01-13
I bought this book for my son because I loved the movie as a kid. I guess this is the movie (or condensed) version of the story, because it lacks some development and detail. My 6 year old still enjoyed it, though. I need to find the original book and/or the movie itself instead.
Rikki Tikki Tavi 2007-01-19
I liked Rikki Tikki Tavi it was a really good book. There were lots of exciting and unexpected things happening. I liked the characters - my favourite was Rikki Tikki. It was interesting to learn about the mongoose.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi 2006-08-31
"Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!"
A classic story from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, adapted and illustrated by award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney, this is the tale of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a fearless young mongoose.
Soon after a flood washes Rikki into the garden of an English family, he comes face-to-face with Nag and Nagaina, two giant cobras. The snakes are willing to attack Rikki, and even the human family who lives there, to claim the garden and house for themselves. But they do not count on the heart and pride of the brave little mongoose.
A young reader's must have 2006-02-28
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.
Rikki the valiant the true, tikki with eyeballs of flame 2005-10-23
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.
Not the original text!!! 
2005-04-20
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.
to help clarify reviewer "Heath Buckmaster" confusion 2005-02-20
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.
