Customer Reviews

Mailing May

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I chose this book to read to a group of children, ages 2 to 11. They all sat, listening, interested, and loved it! The story is so nice and the drawings are perfect. I think a child doesn't have to "believe it" to believe in the passion behind it. They get it. It was great.

I really liked the book Mailing because it was an interesting, funny, and cute little story. It was about a five year old girl who didn't have $1.55 for a ticket to go visit her grandma. SO instead they mailes her as a baby chick through the US Postal Service. Instead it only cost her $0.53 than the $1.55 it would cost to buy a ticket. The pictures in this book were fantastic, they showed al ot of action. THis was a true story.

This is a touching story of a little girl who can't afford to visit her grandparents. It's set in the early 1900's. Children will learn a little history. They'll enjoy the family's solution to their problem. This is a lovely story. I'm afraid, however, that I enjoyed it a bit more than my children. From their 1990's perspective, the story was a little hard to believe.

The story of `Mailing May' is actually based on the true story of the mailing of Charlotte May Pierstorff who was actually mailed (as a baby chick), from Grangeville, Idaho to Lewiston Idaho in 1913. While the author has of course made a few changes here and there, it is never the less based on a true happening and the author has gone to great lengths to portray the era in which May was mailed...January 1, 1913.

Times were hard in Idaho, as they were in most places during that day and time and May wanted to visit her grandmother "who lived a million miles away through the rough old Idaho mountains." The problem though was that the train ticket (the only way of getting there) costs a dollar fifty-five, and as May's father points out, he has to work an entire day for that kind of money; money the family simply did not have.

What to do, what to do?

Between May's extended family, local railroad workers and postal workers they came up with the idea of simply mailing May, which at the time would only cost fifty-three cents. Regulations stated that the postal department could not mail lizards or insects or anything smelly. May pasted the smell test and she most certainly was not an insect or lizard. The postal service could though mail baby chicks and that is what they classified her as...a forty-eight pound and eight ounce baby chick...a record!

This is a delightful story taken from an era long gone. The tale is beautifully written and the art work is some of the best I have seen in a children's book. The author and illustrator have most certainly captured the feel and essence of Idaho during the turn of the century. The story is a good lesson in just how innovative people could be at that time and a good lesson in how a community and family can work together to get things done.

This work is a complete winner in my book, both the story content and the way it is presented and in the beautiful art work.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I think with the postal service (as with many other institutions we take for granted), children often wonder "What would happen if . . ." Michael O. Tunnell's "Mailing May" plays with this idea. May, a little girl in the book, wants to visit her grandmother, but her family doesn't have the money for a train ticket, so May's father and Leonard (the post-man) must come up with an alternative solution. Ultimately they mail May like a package, and even the grumpy conductor of the train can't help but laugh at the idea. That the story apparently is true, and not merely a "what if" tale (according to the back of the book) seems to only increase reader delight.

Note on the illustrations: The illustrations are 3/4-page watercolor paintings, with smaller paintings of postage stamps, photographs, tags, and railroad documents, thus adding to the story's sense of reality and historicity. They help establish the early 1900s setting, and develop the characters through facial expressions.

Five-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff is disappointed when, after promising her a visit to her grandmother's house, seventy-five miles away over Idaho mountains, her parents tell her they cannot afford a train ticket. But she is mystified the next morning when her father wakes her up for an early trip to the local post office. Taking advantage of the new 1914 postal regulations allowing packages as large as fifty pounds, he pastes some stamps and an address card to the back of her coat and leaves her in the care of her cousin Leonard, who manages the mail car on the train, and she gets to visit her grandmother after all.

This charming story is illustrated in Ted Rand's warmly vibrant style, and most of the paintings are supplemented with museum-style images of historical mementos: old-fashioned stamps, the address tag on May's coat, and black-and-white snapshots of people and scenes. Michael Tunnell tells the story from the little girl's perspective, including enough detail to satisfy adult questions about how the feat was accomplished.

The story brings with it a freshness and innocence, and with many positive themes. Among them are courage and creativity in the face of difficulty, a grandchild's devotion to her grandmother, people helping one another, and parents keeping promises. It is targeted for an elementary audience, and their parents may enjoy the humor of the situation at least as much as the children do.

This book was very informative in a fun way. It held my daughters and my attention. Also made us want to check into how the post office works and a bit more history about the post office. Great learning tool to use!

Mailing May
I love this book. I teach third grade and read it every year to my students. Iinclude it with a written response where the students get to choose a place to which they would be mailed.

I don't know what is the best part of this book: the delightful coloquial voice, the amazing pictures, or just the cute story.

This book is about a young girl, May, who wants to visit Grandma in Lewiston, Idaho (you gotta love a book that references real places). Unfortunately, money for a train ticket is tight--to save the day, May's folks come up a quirky and probably illegal (but still hilarious) idea to get her there--mailing her.

It's an adorable story that has all the magic of a little girl setting out into the big world via a train. There is a delectable sense of history and wisdom as she makes her railway journey, and the writing is personable and funny.

This is a wonderful story, a true story, and made me think of the many afternoons with my dad when I was tiny singing the Guthrie tune "I'm gonna Mail Myself to You". The drawings are superb, they seem like paintings rather than illustrations in a children's book. Sweet and lovely. Worth every penny.