Entry 1, 1930s

Mei Li, by Thomas Handforth, 1938

Mei Li was a pleasantly surprising experience and exceeded my expectations of what I

expected from the book. Firstly, I had my reservations about the book being based in China
but written by a Non-Chinese author. I also felt the story to be a bit awkward at first. But as
I read more, I got more delighted by the themes and ideas explored in it. It talks of Mei Li, a
girl living in ancient China who gets to experience her first excursion out of the realm of her
house. I really liked the art style in the book. It resembled Chinese art style, and it was not
“whitewashed” to make the clearly Chinese characters resemble western features more.
The story explores girlhood, childlike wonder, the prejudices young girls face from their
families and from the outside world, kindness, and a little girl’s first steps into the world. It
was quite nice to see how the story carried a message of what you share around comes
back around to you and I found it to be an incredible story well-meaning story for early
readers who are yet to step into the world or are still taking just their first steps. Incredibly
heartwarming to read something which was reminiscent of the books I read when I was
younger.

Entry 2, 1940s

Make way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey,1942

Make way for Ducklings is a story that uses the personification of animals to push its
message. It has environmentalist themes observed in how the two ducks look for the ideal
place to place their nests. It also introduces the reader to different places they might not
have had the chance to visit yet. It teaches them how to examine different surroundings
and resources they are presented with and make the decision that is most optimal for
them. Despite personifying the ducks, the design of the ducks in the illustration is that of
normal ducks and not ducks with human features like clothes and long legs. It's also a
story of friendship between the ducks and the police officer Michael. It is a simple story
about the life and times of a couple of ducks and their ducklings.

Entry 3, 1950s

The Biggest Bear, by Lynd Ward, 1953

The first thing I noticed was the art style in The Biggest Bear, which used a lot more pencil
shading than the other children’s books I read for this journal so far. The art style tried to
imitate realism a lot which may not be as appealing to younger readers. One of its’ themes
is the concept of shame and humiliation by comparison from others as well as a
competitive spirit borne out of these feelings. The story is about the uncanny friendship
between Johnny and the bear and family’s troubles while feeding and raisiing such a big
bear. The story has dark and mature themes as it talks about hunting and poaching of
animals but has a happy ending when the bear is sent safely away to a zoo.

Entry 4, 1960s

Once A Mouse..., by Marcia Brown 1962

I picked this story because I realized while reading the blurb that it was a retelling of a story
from my culture, and I was curious how an American writer and illustrator would retell it. It
was originally a part of the Hitopadesha fables. The word Hitopadesha’s entomology tells
us what kind of stories these fables include. “Hit/हित” means “for the benefit” or
“beneficiary” while the second half of the word “updesh/उपदेश” means a set of
instructions given to teach the listener/reader how to lead their life in a correct way.
Essentially, these are stories that teach you how to live a morally correct life. This was a
story I had heard before, but it was still nice to read this version and see it illustrated using
woodblocks. The moral story teaches you how you must be ready to change and grow
when it comes to life’s adversities but still respect your roots and the people that
supported you at your weakest. It is exaggerated and fantasical and clearly not meant to be
taken too literally but rather read for the meaning it conveys.

Entry 5 1970s

Why mosquitos buzz in ears, by Verna Aardema 1976

The first thing I noticed about this book was how colorful and bright it was. It looked really
beautiful and captured my eye with the colorful art as well as the big font used in the book.
The use of inverted colors to represent nighttime was unique and the illustrator displayed a
grasp on color theory by using the colors in the book to convey the strange nature of the
jungle and its animals. The pages of the book were also quite big compared to the books I
saw before for this journal. The author also used a lot of interesting ways to convey the
phonetic sounds the animals make while moving around. The story can be a first
rudimentary introduction to a slippery slope fallacy, as well as a way for the readers to
realize how the particular fallacy can lead to actual disaster. They may not know the
technical term for the fallacy, but it does serve as quite a cautionary tale do what not to do
when faced with a situation like the one in the book.

Entry 6 1980s

Hey Al, by Arthur Yorinks

What caught my eye with Hey Al was the writing style. It was more modern prose than the
ones I read before this and more wondrous too. The story was more relevant to the lifestyle
the children had at the time, a city being more relatable than a forest or a hermit’s hut. It
also tells children of the struggles of adulthood to some extent. The art and illustrations in
the book were really colorful! I really liked looking at them as they were relevant to my own
home and that is probably also true for younger readers. In the end the story teaches a very
important lesson to its readers that I think even older people often require. That is not to
give in to the delusions of living a life of ease and to lose yourself in an attempt to forget
about your worries. It was very impressive to see a book for such early readers deal with
something so important in the lives of modern adults.

Entry 7 1990s

Tuesday, by David Wiesner 1992

This was a really short book, and I enjoyed it a lot. There was almost no text in the book
unless it was to indicate the time and day of events. It was about a fantastical, absurdist
dream of the day when frogs learned how to fly! The illustrations were the medium used to
tell the story in the book, and they were all incredibly detailed, colored, and interesting. It
was interesting to see how the author conveyed the joy and whimsy of the frogs at being
able to fly by just using their expressions and it was even more interesting to see how
despite it all the frogs still looked uncanny but not to a discomforting degree.

Entry 8 2000s

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes, 2005

The book is wonderful in how it is about it serves to quench the small curiosities younger
readers may have about the moon. It is a fun little tale of how while we may not be able to
get our hands on the distant beautiful dream, like the moon, we may still be able to receive
gifts of the things that are not distant and beautiful but still just as important to us. The art
style is quite simple and serves well to enhance the moon, the main focus of the story.

Entry 9 2010s

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, 2011

I really like the art style in the book. It was simple but also quite beautiful and I liked how
only the most important parts of the illustrations were filled in with color, while the rest
was allowed to be black and white. This is an incredible choice because in any scene its
easy to figure out which part of the illustration is going to be most relevant to the text on the
page. It also serves as an indicator for the characters focus on the scene at present. The
book teaches children an important lesson about making friends for life and being true to
them, as the kindness you share around comes back to you.

Entry 10 2020s

Hot Dog by Doug Salati, 2023

The biggest factor in the book was the illustrations! Something I have been noticing ever
since the children’s books of the 70s was that as time went on illustrations became much
more used too to convey stories and I think this story did it best so far. The illustrations
were elaborate but not to the point that they were not comprehensible, and the text worked
really well to complement what was illustrated. Again, it mostly relies on illustrations to do
the story telling rather than text. It is a breath of fresh air as it is a story told from the
perspective of a dog who is experiencing the overwhelmingness of city life and finds his
escape. It's a reminder to its readers that despite the seemingly stressful circumstances
and times a reprieve can still be found in nature.