1943 - The Little House

The sixth book to win the Caldecott Medal was The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, published in 1942 by Houghton Mifflin.

The Little House tells the story of a house lovingly built by a man who decided it would never be sold, but passed down through the family to his great-great grandchildren's great great grandchildren. As the years passed, the Little House watched children grow and seasons pass until a road was built.  That road brought people, businesses, and growth until the Little House no longer sat atop a small hill surrounded by daisies and trees.  A city sprang up around the Little House, leaving her sad and broken.

Who was Virginia Lee Burton?

Photo Courtesy: http://www.virginialeeburtonthefilm.com/film/

Virginia Lee Burton was born on August 30, 1909 in Newton Centre, Massachusetts to Lena Yates, an English poet, and Alfred E. Burton, an engineer and and the first Dean of Student Affairs at MIT.  When she was 8 years old, Burton's family, which included an older sister and younger brother, moved to San Diego, California, a year later they moved on to Carmel-by-the-Sea.  While there, Burton and her sister took dance and art lessons and performed in local productions.  In 1925, Burton's parents divorced and her father returned to Boston.  

Burton won a state scholarship to study art and dance at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute.   After a year of school, she moved to Boston to be closer to her father and her sister, who was a dancer in New York City.  While there, Burton started working as a "sketcher" for a now defunct newspaper, Boston Evening Transcript.  For over two years, she worked under the drama and music critic, drawing actors and other performers.

In the fall of 1930, Burton entered a Saturday morning drawing class taught by George Demetrios, a sculptor and artist.  By the following spring, the two were married.  They went on to have two sons, Ari and Michael, and settled in the Folly Cove neighborhood of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Burton's first book was published in 1935, Choo Choo, the story of a locomotive who decided to go in search of adventure.

She has said that she wrote her books "for my audience, my own children.  I would tell them the story over and over, watching their reaction and adjusting to their interest or lack of interest."

In total, Virginia Lee Burton illustrated six books for other authors and wrote and illustrated seven of her own books including the popular Katy and the Big Snow (Vol 2) in 1943 and, my personal favorite, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel in 1939.

Burton founded Folly Cove Designers in 1941, a textile collective where she designed some of the textiles.

Virginia Lee Burton died in 1968 at the age of 59.

The Illustrations

The one word that comes to my mind when I look at the illustrations in The Little House is 'sweet'.  It's a sweet story told with sweet illustrations.

Burton uses color beautifully to show the changing seasons.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

It is watching the children play and the seasons change that make the Little House so happy.  She sees the far-off lights of the city and wonders what it would be like to live there, but she is happy right where she is.

Every day the Little House watches the sun move across the sky

But, as we all know, change is inevitable.  Children grow up and move away, roads are built, bringing more people and businesses.

As time passes, a city grows up around the Little House, but since the man who built it said the house shall not be sold, it is left to fall into disrepair as apartments and skyscrapers grow around it and cars drive by as trolley lines are built and then replaced by elevated trains and subways.  The Little House sits quietly, missing her apple trees and daisies.

As the city grows around her, big grey buildings blocking the sun and moon from her view, the Little House grows grey herself.  She is no longer the happy Little House she once was.

Then, one day, a woman sees the sad Little House tucked between the skyscrapers and seems to recognize it as the house her grandmother grew up in.  

This woman turns out to be the great-great granddaughter of the man who originally built the house.  After learning that it is indeed the house her grandmother grew up in, the woman hires movers to move the Little House.

With the Little House put up on wheels and towed by a truck, they drove away from the city, searching for just the perfect spot.  Finding a little hill with apple trees and daisies.

The Little House's new family found that while her windows were broken and the shutters crooked, underneath it all, she was still a great little house.  They gave her fresh coat of paint, fixed her windows and shutters, and lived happily ever after inside her.

This is another book where you really should take the time to study the illustrations.  You'll notice little stories tucked away on each page.

Clockwise from the top left: Children floating boats in the creek; a child rolling a hoop while Mom hung laundry and Dad plowed the fields; children ice skating on the frozen pond; children building a snowman; and what appears to be a couple of little boys skinny-dipping.

A boy on a swing while a cat and dog frolic; a little girl reading under a tree while her little brother climbs it.

In 1952, the Walt Disney Corporation turned The Little House into an animated short.

The Little House is a sweet book.  I absolutely love the use of colors in the illustrations and I am quite partial to the way she draws the apple trees.  While I enjoyed this book and I can appreciate how these illustrations won the Caldecott, I will always be a bigger fan of Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne.

1943 Caldecott Honor Books
Dash and Dart by Mary and Conrad Buff Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry