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Mei Li |
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  Summary: Better than expected (thankfully) Review: It's probably not a good idea to go into reading a picture book thinking, "Well, how will I be offended THIS time?". Still, if you go into a book with lowered expectations, you can only be delighted when you find them to be baseless. My experiences with some of the early Caldecott winning books, like "Mei Li", have sometimes ranged from gagging horror to outright shock. Looking at "Mei Li", I wasn't hopeful. It was written originally in 1939. It takes place in China with a Chinese heroine. All signs seemed to say that this book had prime racism potential. So imagine my delight and astonishment when I discovered it to be a fair treatment of a rural Chinese family existing in the 1930s. Sure, it had some elements here and there that I would have liked to have corrected, but on the whole it's a sure-footed interesting book. One of those rare Caldecott winners you can still read to your little ones today.
Mei Li is not at all pleased. Her brother San Yu is going to the New Year Fair in the city and, because she is a girl, Mei Li must stay home. Fortunately, she's a fairly enterprising little lass and by bribing her brother with her lapis-blue marble she's able to convince him to take her with him to town as well. Once there she gives some money to a begger girl and partakes of the splendors of the city. After competing with her brother to show him that girls can do just as much as boys can, she stumbles across a fortune teller. The man predicts that she will rule over a kingdom, a fate which even the normally optimistic Mei Li has some doubts about. After dressing up, playing with toys, and escaping from realistic flying kites she returns to her home with her brother and uncle. That night, she greets the Kitchen God and is told that her home is her kingdom and in it everyone is her loyal loving subject. Says Mei Li with a bit of common sense, "It will do for a while, anyway".
It's an odd kind of story, really. The narrative jumps wildly from place to place to place. One minute Mei Li's being held upside down by a female acrobat and the next she's created a crown out of her green marble and is prancing about like a princess. Her brother, San Yu, is also a realistically cruel older brother. In fact, he doesn't seem to much care what or where his sister gets to. This guy sneers, mocks, jeers, and generally makes his little sister's life a misery. Pretty realistic stuff. For her part, Mei Li is the ultimate likable protagonist. There's nothing she does that other little girls wouldn't do in her place. Along with that, she never really gets particularly upset with her older brother.
I was a little surprised to find that the author and illustrator of this book were one and the same. Where the plot and narrative of this book is lightheared and wild, the pictures convey that silliness but also have a wry realism about them. Everything here is drawn in black and white. This is a real pity when you consider that Mei Li goes about carrying three brightly colored marbles, "one lapis blue, one coral red, and one jade green". It would have been nice to see those bright stones, as well as the colors that obviously pervade the Fair. The book also contains some incredibly realistic figures. Mei Li is often drawn with a deftly shaded and sly face, both adorable and pitiable depending on the situation. Sometimes the pictures in this book are cartooney. Sometimes they're blasts of brief shocking realism. For my own part, I think the best part of this book is the moment when an old priest lays below a bridge urging the children above to, "Ring the bell with a penny, and you will have money for all the year". In the picture, the priest lies with huge piles of pennies around him. His face is undeniably European and one clawed hand reaches out to greedily gather the money to him. I couldn't help but wonder if Handforth was trying to make a statement of some sort with this picture. Probably not, but it's fun to speculate all the same.
So is the book offensive? I'm probably not the one to ask. I don't know my Chinese history particularly well, so I can't say whether or not the book is a faithful and accurate reprentation of the China of that time. The book doesn't really mention the name of the city presented here, so there's that. There is a map of the town, Mei Li's home, and its approximate closeness to the Great Wall of China, which is interesting. But the pictures do not promote stock Oriental images and the text is fully respectful of its characters. On the whole, I would say that this is a fair balanced book with a great deal of love poured into it.
If you find that you would like to read an older Caldecott winning book, but you're not entirely certain where to start, "Mei Li" is probably your best bet. At once winning, charming, and altogether intelligent, it still has the power to interest the children that read it. Maybe the best word of all for it is: timeless. Sure, it's definitely set in 1939 China, but the images and story presented here will last for all time. A surprisingly beautiful little picture book.
Rating:  Summary: Chinese Tale of the Time Review: This book truly does describe a time and place. Mei Li is often told that she's just a girl and not valued. In the end, her family comes looking for her and tells her that she is their princess when she lives within the walls of their house. I hesitated to read it to my Chinese daughter, but I do think it tells the tale of cultural values from long ago -- something she should understand sooner or later.
Rating:  Summary: The world of China in the 1930s through the eyes of a child. Review: This children's book tells the story of a little Chinese girl who slips away from her family to see the big city of Peking (now, Beijing) in the 1930s. The book won the 1939 Caldecott Medal for best illustration in a children's book, the second book to win that award. As mention in the criticism from "Horn Book," it is a little wordy and forced and children of today may have not relate to Mei Li too much. But it is a nice introduction to a culture of a different time and can lead to interesting discussions between parents and their children. In addition, it is a book that should be on the shelf of any serious student of children literature.
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