1939 Winner: Mei Li

Mei Li   1939 Caldecott Winner

Author and Illustrator Thomas Handforth

Thomas Scofield Handforth (1897–1948) was an American artist and etcher. He wrote and illustrated the book Mei Li about his personal experiences in China and won the 1939 Caldecott Medal. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he studied at the University of Washington.

Book Summary

                A little girl in China wants to go to town to experience the New Year.  She is told no but she sneaks out and goes anyway.  Good thing her brother was there to help her navigate the dangerous city.

Okay now the real summary:

There is a hidden message in the story.  Little girls are not good to do anything.  At first when I began reading I was not happy about this message.  Little Mei Li is a girl from China who is visited by her Uncle.  Her Uncle plans on going to the City for the New Year and also plans to take Mei Li’s brother.  But not her, “Mei Li stopped to listen sadly because little girls always had to stay home.”  AHHHHHHHHHH  WHAT!!!!!  Well Mie Li is a lot like me and does what she wants anyway!  She sneaks out and takes an adventure to the city.  Good for her!!!!  She was ahead of her times! J Once she arrives at the city she takes it all in!  Running around the city looking at everything there is to see and do.  In the end she makes it home before night time, the deadline given in the book in order to please the Kitchen God.  Interesting story, got even better once I began researching the author!

More about the Author/Illustrator!

                I was very thrilled to see that my home town of Tacoma, WA is where this winner came from.  “At the age of three my favorite outing was to be taken to the lily pond in Point Defiance Park and to be allowed to climb alone across the rustic Japanese half-moon bridge.” (autobiographical paper by Thomas Handforth, Personal Progress Toward the Orient.)  WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT….WAIT!!!!  I know the place he is talking about!  I have been to that place!  I have been there many times!  You mean to tell me that I have a personal connection with this award winner and that he has a connection to the area I grew up in!  I think this is pretty cool!  To bad the story is so negative towards girls, think of all the learning that young students could do with this connection!

Illustrations: 

                The interesting things about the pictures are not that they are beautiful but the connection they have to the illustrator.  Everything that he drew was something he himself experienced while in China.  Even the main character Mei Li is a true person.  This helped to bring life to the illustrations.  They appear extremely realistic.  If you want to know about the connection between the book and the illustrator you may want to check out a book called, Caldecott Medal Books 1938-1957  For me it provided a rich background of the artwork.

Art Medium: Brush and lithograph pencil

Front matter, full-page and double-page spreads in black and white.

Final Thoughts:
1. Would this be a book I would pick up again?  Probably Not
2. Would I recommend it to others to search out and take a look at?  Yes they are magical
3. Would I spend my hard earned money on the book?  No the message of the text is just a bit harsh for today’s culture.