1939 Caldecott Medal Winners and Honor Books

Mei Li

By: Thomas Handforth

Medal Winner

Reviewed by: Sherry Early
Also read and recommended by: Jeannette Tulis, Sandy Hall

This book begins with a Chinese nursery rhyme asking what girls are good for and a picture of Mei Li (pronounced MAY LEE) playing with her mother. Thomas Handforth, the author and illustrator, was inspired by a neighbor girl named Mei Li while he was living and working as an artist in Beijing, China. The plot is simple: Mei Li runs away with her brother San Yu to go to the New Year Fair in the city. While she is there Mei Li experiences many adventures and tries to puzzle out her role as a girl in Chinese culture. The story ends with Mei Li happy to be home, and the Kitchen God appears to tell her that she can be a princess in her own home.

I do think the vivid black and white illustrations of Chinese life and people are the best part of this book. Hence the Caldecott Award. The message of “girls are meant to keep house and rule the home” will be offensive to some. Mei Li, however, is content with her brief adventure and return home. “Mei Li sighed happily, ‘It will do for a while, anyway.'”

Andy and the Lion

By: James Daugherty

Honor

Reviewed by: Jeannette Tulis
Recommended age: 4 - 8
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sherry Early

This is a country boy take on the ancient legend of Androcles and the Lion. The expressive and humorous illustrations by James Daugherty take front and center in this book. Andy is obsessed with lions. He reads about them, listens to his uncle tell stories about them, and even dreams about them. But no one is more surprised than Andy when he actually meets up with a real lion on his way to school. After a crazy chase, Andy sees the lion has a thorn stuck in his paw and, with the help of his trusty back pocket pliers, Andy is able to remove it and they go their separate ways. Some time after this the circus comes to town. Of course Andy has to go to see the lion act. In the middle of the act, the largest lion jumps over the high barrier and charges the crowd which tries madly to disperse. Andy finds himself face to face with the escaped lion and both recognize each other. Andy defends the lion declaring their friendship and both are rewarded with a parade and to Andy is given a medal for bravery. In a somewhat anticlimactic ending, Andy returns his lion book to the library and the lion is following him. There are not many words on each page but Daugherty’s drawings are wonderfully over the top, exaggerated to add so much emotion to the story. A true classic!

Barkis

By: Clare Turlay Newberry

Honor

Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4 and up

Barkis, an adorable Cocker Spaniel puppy, is gifted to James on his birthday. The puppy works his way into the family's heart and life in the story. There is some conflict between James and his sister Nell Jean because he doesn't want to share his new puppy with her. Tragedy almost strikes, and both children work out their differences and come to agreement in the end. The story is told with more text than modern picture books, but is well-written. The illustrations by the author are lovely! Soft nostalgic drawings of Barkis, the children, and the family cat are portrayed on a totally white background. Newberry began drawing cats, dogs, and other animals at a very early age, and authored and illustrated many other picture books about animals including Marshmallow, April's Kittens, and Smudge, all Caldecott winners or honor books. If you have a child who loves animals or has pets, I highly recommend her books!

The Forest Pool

By: Laura Adams Armer

Honor
NOT REVIEWED

In this book, which grew out of Mrs. Armer's long visit in old Mexico, the author-artist has told a story of two little Mexican boys, Diego and Popo. They seek the ancient tree-lizard, called the iguana, that lives in a pool deep in the green forest. They are accompanied on their journey by Polly, Diego's pet parrot.

The simple, direct, childlike text and the beautiful paintings give pictures of native life, of flora and fauna, the marginal sketches are of aboriginal art; all free of Spanish influence. The paintings have the quality of primitive art without the grotesqueness of some of the Mexican artists of the present day.

From the dust jacket

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

By: Wanda Gág

Honor
NOT REVIEWED

"It will be good news to many readers that Wanda Gag has made her own translation and pictures for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," writes Miss Anne Carroll Moore in the May-June Horn Book. "The story is as satisfying told in the pictures as it is in the words of the text. In both there is a childlike simplicity united with great strength and beauty. The inimitable drawings of the dwarfs restore their true character as dwarfs."

In a year that has been especially conscious of this tale, it is fitting that an authentic rendition of it should be made available for children who want the real Grimm story. That such an edition would fill a genuine need was felt by many people, particularly librarians, and in discussing the problem with Wanda Gág, Miss Moore suggested that she do the book.

As in her Tales From Grimm, Miss Gág went direct to the German for her text. Her translation is smooth and colorful and above all faithful to the original. The lovely pictures *** all the beauty, humor, and drama of the story. Here in prose and illustration is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the Brothers Grimm set it down. Snow White is a real little princess; the seven dwarfs are exactly what dwarfs should be—kindly, hard-working, scrupulously clean; the wicked queen appears in all her cold, vain majesty. The creatures of the woods, the seven high hills, the queen's *** disguises, the dwarfs' clothes fluttering on the line, their nightshirts flung across their beds, their slippers on the floor—everying lives in *** pictures. This is a beautiful and timely book for both children and adults.

Uniform in format with Tales from Grimm.

From the dust jacket

Wee Gillis

By: Munro Leaf
Illustrated by: Robert Lawson

Honor

Reviewed by: Sherry Early
Also read and recommended by: Christine Kallner, Jeannette Tulis, Sandy Hall

Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, the talented team who gave us in 1936 one of my favorite picture books, The Story of Ferdinand, collaborated again in 1938 to write and illustrate Wee Gillis. Instead of a bull torn between the bull fights in Madrid and his peaceful home in the country, we have Wee Gillis, torn between the Scottish Highlands where his father's relations live and stalk stags and the Scottish Lowlands where his mother's relations live and call cows. Eventually Wee Gillis manages to make the best of both worlds as well as learning to play the bagpipes.

The details are what make this picture book stand the test of time: a picture of Wee Gillis yelling through the fog, Wee Gillis’s absurdly long name, the alliterative fun of “calling cows” and “stalking stags”, and the tempestuous tantrum that Wee Gillis’s uncles throw when trying to persuade him to choose either the Highlands or the Lowlands for his home. And of course the theme/plot of finding a way to reconcile both halves of your heritage and still become uniquely yourself is always timely.

Read to your primary and preschool age children and then, listen to some bagpipe music together.