Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If it were possible to give zero stars, I would have. If you want a book that legitimates and perpetuates the notion that Asian names (and Asians themselves) are exotic, incomprehensible, and nonsensical, get this book. If you want a real folktale from China for your kid, this is not it. Look elsewhere. Do you think Chinese people need to explain to their own kids why we have one-syllable names? No. Do you think there are Chinese folktales about English people or German people with silly long names? No. This is not a true Chinese folktale. This book was written for non-Chinese "westerners" by someone who is very unknowledgeable about Chinese language, history and culture. A telling example: Chang can be written at least 20 different ways in Chinese, and none of those words mean "little or nothing," contrary to what the author claims. Those quotations inserted by the author are irritating. The author claims s/he is "retelling" a Chinese folktale, but I read many Chinese folktales as a kid, and I have never encountered this one. A Google search on this book uncovers Internet discussion groups on children's folktales confirming that there are no Chinese folktales like this. Isn't it too easy for a writer to tell a racist, ahistorical, irresponsible story then disclaim responsibility, and claim that s/he was just "repeating" what she heard from someone else? Historically, there has never been a time in China when first borns were given superlong names. The name "Tikki tikki..." isn't even Chinese. It's totally made up by the author. It just "sounds" exotic and incomprehensible a la Polynesia, Japan, Indonesia, India... you get it. It does not mean "the most wonderful thing" in any language. (It does sound like "Riki Riki Tavi.") The factual premise of the story is also absurd: the boy had a name so long that people couldn't readily recognize it when the brother said it. Why didn't the boy have a nickname. In Chinese families, there are specific nicknames for eldest son, second son, baby brother, etc., and kids are usually called by these titles rather than by given name. Not to be pedantic, but this is yet another incredulous aspect of this "folktale." Come on, the boy is drowning in a well, and the little brother cannot make the grownups understand that! I also found through Google some folklore academics who thought that the author may have "retold" a folktale, but one that was crafted by European missionaries and colonists who sought a humorous albeit false, unsupported explanation for why their Chinese subjects had such funny monosyllabic names. True, anyone who has not bothered to study Chinese language and history would have a hard time understanding why everyone seems to have the same short name. Aside from all the above, as some other reviewers have noted, the artwork is not so authentic either, mixing pseudo-Japanese costume with generic multi-culti ethnic hippie garb. The artist also failed to do basic research, or believed that Chinese, Japanese, whatever, they're all the same. The last line in the book says it all: "the Chinese have always thought it wise to give all their children little, short names instead of great long names." As anyone who has studied the Chinese language knows, Chinese names are not "little and short" but even a name like Li can be written thirty different ways in Chinese. Only to an ignorant person do the names appear "little and short." Maybe I just have little tolerance for people who make fun of "ethnic" names without recognizing that all names have a history and even American names like Jones or Lee are, objectively speaking, ethnic, and strange and exotic to someone who doesn't live in the U.S. or England. I received this book as a gift. I am throwing it away. I don't want my quarter-Chinese daughter to get a distorted, stupid, false perspective on a great civilization. She is two years old, and cannot yet distinguish between fact and fiction. I cannot recommend this book to anyone of any age. The last thing this world needs is another disingenuous book that dumbs down and places Chinese culture in false light under guise of "authenticity." We already have Hollywood and popular media doing that.