Mailing May

Tunnell, Michael O

ISBN 10: 0756941563 ISBN 13: 9780756941567

Publisher: Turtleback Books, 2000

Synopsis

Nowadays it's no big deal or a girl to travel seventy-five miles. But when Charlotte May Pierstorff wanted to cross seventy-five miles of Idaho mountains to see her grandma in 1914, it was a very big deal indeed. There was no highway except the railroad, and a train ticket would have cost her parents a full day's pay.

Here is the true story of how May got to visit her grandma, thanks to her won spunk, her father's ingenuity, and the U.S. mail.

00-01 CA Young Reader Medal Masterlist and 01 Colorado Children's Book Award (Pic. Bk Cat.)

About this title

About the Author:

"A heartwarming period piece based on a true incident, lovingly told, beautifully illustrated," raved The New York Times Book Review of Michael O. Tunnell's Mailing May, illustrated by Ted Rand, which was also honored as a 1998 ALA Notable Book.The author of five picture books, two chapter books, two novels, and one documentary, Mike teaches children's literature at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He and his wife, Glenna, have four children and two grandchildren.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2. Five-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff begs to visit her grandmother, but her parents cannot afford to send her. In Idaho in 1914, the train is the only way to make the 75-mile trip over the mountains. The Pierstorffs come up with an unusual solution?mailing May. Sending her as a package is a third of the cost, and since her mother's cousin Leonard handles the railroad mail car, she does not have to travel alone. Children will delight in the fantasy aspects of the tale even after they discover that the story is true. Tunnell describes his research in an author's note. Rand's watercolor illustrations are masterful, as is the design of the book as a whole. The intriguing cover is made to look like a suitcase. With the tweed of the traveling bag as a backdrop, the title is framed in the shape of a postage stamp, and two other old-fashioned stamps and a "photograph" of May holding the same suitcase are featured. The device of the painted photographs or other pieces of realia such as a postal tag or train schedule appear throughout the book's glowing two-page spreads and add to the story's authenticity. This well-crafted presentation provides a brief, but sweet, glimpse into the past.?Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Turtleback Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0756941563
• ISBN 13: 9780756941567
• Binding: Library Binding
• Illustrator: Rand Ted