1939 - Mei Li

The second book to be awarded the Caldecott Medal was Mei Li by Thomas Handforth.  Published in 1938 by Doubleday, Mei Li is the story of a young girl in China who disobeys her parents and sneaks into town with her brother on the day before New Year's Day to take part in the New Year Fair. After a day of fun, Mei Li must rush home with her brother and uncle in hopes of getting there in time to greet the Kitchen God at midnight.

Who was Thomas Handforth?

Thomas Handforth was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1897.  After only one year at the University of Washington, he dropped out to study art in New York and Paris.  He then spent a decade traveling through North Africa and Mexico where he enjoyed drawing common people in motion, like dancers, wrestlers, and children.  One person who enjoyed collecting his work was Louise Seaman Bechtel, the head of the new children's division for publisher Macmillan.  Handforth was hired to illustrate Elizabeth Coatsworth's book Toutou in Bondage in 1929 and then Susan Smith's Tranquilina's Paradise in 1930.  Neither book was very successful.  

Handforth received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1931 to travel to Asia and continue his artwork.  Upon arriving in Beijing, he fell in love with the city and instead of staying for his planned two weeks, he stayed for six years.  He was a shy man who was more comfortable working with children than adults and he often used them as models.  It was during this time he met a four year old girl who, along with her pet duckling and little white dog, would go and find adults to model for Handforth and told them how to pose.  Her name was Pu Mei Li and when he decided to write a storybook using all his models as characters he chose Pu Mei Li to be the star of the story.

The real Pu Mei Li holding a copy of the book.

The Illustrations 

The illustrations in Mei Li are all black and white.  The main characters are Mei Li and her older brother San Yu.

Look at those sweet faces!

Handford expresses a lot of Mei Li's emotions through her candle-top pigtail (I never knew that's what it was called!).  He doesn't show it in the illustrations, but tells it in the story:

Animals also play an important part in the story. Mei Li has a little white dog named Igo and her brother has a thrush.  Throughout the fair, they see a lot of different animals:

Mei Li takes with her 3 lucky pennies and 3 marbles.  She gives one penny to a hungry beggar girl, uses the second penny to buy fireworks that she was too afraid to set off, so her brother did, and she gave the third penny to her brother to throw at a bell.  Whoever hits the bell will "have money for all the year."  She gave her blue marble to her brother to convince him to take her to the fair with him, her red marble to a young priest to tell her fortune (he tells her she will rule over a kingdom), and her green marble was put into a crown that she and some other girls at the fair fashioned for her.

The illustrations show some wonderful images of a Chinese Fair, including Mei Li and her brother riding to the fair on a sled:

Boys dressed as a lion:

And New Year lanterns that looked like fish:

As the day draws to an end, Mei Li's uncle finds her and San Yu and they hurry home to greet the Kitchen God at midnight.  When the Kitchen God appears, he fulfills Mei Li's fortune by telling her "This house is your kingdom and palace. Within its walls all living things are your loyal, loving subjects."

I really enjoyed Mei Li.  My first impression was that it shared a new culture and showed how another country celebrates the New Year.  I thought Mei Li was a sweet character with personality and spunk.

What troubled me was that as I was researching Thomas Handford I learned there are a lot of people who feel Mei Li is a sexist book that claims a girl can only rule a household.

That thought never once crossed my mind.  I thought Mei Li was actually a strong female character.  She went against the social norms, going to the Fair when a girl of her station wasn't allowed.  And as she and her brother explored, he would tell her all the things girls couldn't do and she would respond with all that girls could do.  When San Yu tells her "Girls are always afraid.  What can a girl do at the New Year Fair?"  Mei Li responded, "Lots of things." and points to the girls in the circus.

When San Yu tells her girls can't be actors, Mei Li goes up to a trained bear and gets him to do a trick.  She goes on to ride circus ponies and bravely protects her brother's thrush from danger.

As for the book's message being "a woman can only rule a household", I call malarkey!  That thought never once crossed my mind.  You have to remember Mei Li is just a little girl and it is very obvious that her entire family loves her dearly.  The message I took away from the Kitchen God's words is that she was the well-loved center of the family, not a slave to the household.

Unfortunately, it appears the MEI LI is no longer in print.  It can still be purchased used online or you can check your local used bookstore.  And, of course, you can check your local library.

For more information on Thomas Handford and the real Mei Li, please check out the article Thomas Handford, China, and the Real Mei Li.

1939's Caldecott Honor Books

Andy and the Lion (Picture Puffins) by James Daugherty

Barkis by Clare Turlay Newberry

The Forest Pool by Laura Adams Armer

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (illustrated edition) by Wanda Gag

Wee Gillis (New York Review Children's Collection) illustrated by Robert Lawson, written by Munro Leaf