1952 - Finders Keepers

The fifteenth book to be awarded the Caldecott Medal was Finders Keepers by William Lipkind and Nicolas Mordvinoff, published in 1951 by Harcourt, now a part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

In Finders Keepers, we meet Nap and Winkle, two dog friends digging in the yard.  When they come upon a bone, they argue over who it belongs to.  Nap claims it is his because he saw it first, but Winkle claims ownership because he touched it first.  In order to end their disagreement, the canine friends approach a farmer, a goat, a barber, and a big dog for advice.  What comes next is one of the strangest, unpleasant children's books I've ever read.

Who were Will and Nicolas?

For a couple of reasons, this has been the most difficult blog post I've had to write so far.  The first problem I've run in to is the lack of information I was able to find on the writer, William Lipkind, and illustrator Nicolas Mordvinoff.  As you can tell, I was unable to find a photograph of either man.  As for William Lipkind, he was born on December 17, 1904 in New York City.  He graduated from Columbia University in 1937 and worked as an anthropologist before becoming a writer and illustrator.  Lipkind passed away on October 2, 1974.

Nicolas Mordvinoff was born on September 27, 1911 in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Seven years later, his family moved to France.  While studying at the University of Paris, Mordvinoff sold cartoons and illustrations to French publications.  In 1934, he moved to the South Pacific where he spent many years painting, developing his own style.  While in Tahiti, Mordvinoff met author William Stone who convinced Mordvinoff to illustrate his book Thunder Island.  

In 1946, Mordvinoff moved to the United States.  According to one blog post I found, Lipkind and Mordvinoff met through Lipkind's wife, who worked at the New York Public Library.  The two men discussed writing a picture book together while sharing a drink one night.  Mordvinoff saw a red cat on a windowsill and suggested they write about that.  Lipkind felt the book needed more to it and later that evening, Mordvinoff saw a redheaded boy on the street and from that came their first collaboration, Two Reds, in 1950.

The following year they collaborated again on Finders Keepers and then The Christmas Bunny in 1953 and The Little Tiny Rooster in 1960.

Nicolas Mordvinoff died on May 5, 1973 in Hapmton, New Jersey.

The Illustrations

The other problem I ran into writing this post is that I just didn't like the book. It started out with the fun premise of two dogs trying to decide who got the bone they dug up, things got a little strange when they went to ask for advice and everyone they met was kind of a jerk before the book takes, what I consider, a dark turn.

The illustrations in Finders Keepers are done in four colors: red, black, a golden-beige, and white.  I enjoyed the way Nap and Winkle are drawn, they're not any particular breed, but a couple of friendly looking mutts you would see on any farm.

After digging up a bone in the yard, Nap and Winkle start to argue over who gets the treasure.  Nap saw it first, but Winkle touched it first. When they see a farmer driving up the road with a load of hay they decide to ask him.

Seriously, what were the farmer and his horse smoking?

The farmer tells the two dogs that if they help move his cart out of the rut it is in, he'll see what he can do to help.  So, the two dogs help push the wagon out and when they are done they ask the farmer again who gets the bone. 

The farmer's response?

"Bone? Who cares about a bone? Here's something better than a bone."

The farmer then tossed the dogs a forkful of hay.

That was kind of a jerk response and the dogs didn't know what they were supposed to do.  But that's okay, because at that moment a goat walked down the road.   They ask the goat who he thinks the bone belongs to.  The goat tells them he will take care of it after he eats some hay.

The most horrifying illustration I've seen thus far.

The goat then proceeds to eat all the hay the farmer gave the dogs and responds:

"Bone? Who cares about a bone? I'll give you some good advice instead.  Don't go chasing after a goat unless your teeth are sharper than his horns."

And he skips away.

Jerk.

Nap and Winkle continue down the road and come upon an apprentice barber and decide to ask him what he thinks about bone ownership.

I'm sure this will go well.

After the dogs ask their question, the barber tells them he will trim their hair and then help them.

And because a barber is the same thing as a dog groomer, they came out looking great.

After he finished butchering their style, Nap and Winkle asked him about the bone.  The barber's response?

"Bone? Who cares about a bone? Hair that is neat is better than meat."

And then he left.

But don't worry, Nap and Winkle were not left alone for long because a big dog came down the road.

Two dogs with a bone asking a strange big dog for advice as to what to do with said bone...I'm sure this will end in a silly fun way.  Right?

 The big dog convinces them to show him their bone and he very generously offers to take care of it for them. Yup.  Not surprisingly the big dog takes their bone.

So, that leaves poor Nap and Winkle to watch helplessly as their ignorance is rewarded with theft, right?

No.

They jumped the dog and attacked him.

Seriously, this book ends with a DOG FIGHT!

Of course, Nap and Winkle win and end up sharing the bone.

I understand that this is meant to be a funny story and, well, I guess I don't have the same sense of humor people in the early '50s had.  But I didn't find anything funny or endearing about this story or the animals.  Yes, the big dog at the end was the biggest jerk in a book full of jerks, but ending the story with a dog fight just felt violent, not funny.

The best thing I can say about this book is that I did like the illustrations of Nap and Winkle in the beginning and the use of the four color palette was interesting but nothing else about this book makes me want to share it with any child I know.

1952 Caldecott Honor Books

Mr. T. W. Anthony Woo - The Story of a Cat and a Dog and a Mouse - Library Binding by Marie Hall Ets
Skipper John's Cook by Marcia Brown
All falling down illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham, written by Gene Zion
Bear Party (Picture Puffin books) by William Pene du Bois
Feather Mountain by Elizabeth Olds