Knock, Knock, Teremok!: A Traditional Russian Tale

by Katya Arnold

In this cumulative tale, a fly, a mouse, a frog, a duck, a hare, a fox, a pig, and a wolf come to live together, until a bear comes along.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals

1 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of animals take up residence in a teremok - a diminutive form of terem, a traditional Russian house - in this cumulative folktale told in rhyming verse. First comes Fly, "queen of the sky," then Mouse, "who needs a house," and so on, until the teremok is full to bursting! "Knock, knock, knock. Who lives in the teremok? asks each newcomer, and the answer grows longer every time. Finally, by the time Bear arrives, the teremok has reached capacity...

A variant on the well-known Ukrainian tale of The Mitten , this story of a string of animals who squeeze themselves into a small residence would be great fun to read aloud. As Arnold notes in her brief introductory comment, the form of the tale lends itself to acting out by storytellers and children. The bright watercolor illustrations express a great sense of motion, although I didn't care for them as much as Arnold's lubok-inspired work in Baba Yaga .

Observant adult readers will note that every depiction of the teremok contains a mini portrait of a man in profile, who looks suspiciously like Lenin. A little visual reference to Arnold's belief - expressed in her introduction - that this tale could serve as an allegory of the breakup of the Soviet Union, perhaps?

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this cumulative Russian folk tale, animals "knock, knock" on an empty old hut, and each makes room for the next until a whole bunch-load of animals are living squeezed together inside. The text is not the only thing that's repetitive in this dull story: even the illustrations are re-used from page to page, so each animal keeps the same expression and pose from page to page.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

9/10/11 Tipical Russian, you can't ever have a happy ending