Children's Book- Mailing May

Mailing May   

By Michael O. Tunnell

Illustrated by Ted Rand

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,  they do not have the $1.55 for the train ticket.  She even tries to find a job to earn the money.  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. I love the references to the post office. It shows some of the processes that they go through to get the mail where it needs to go. It is based on a true story and the author writes a note in the back about the real story in his family history.  I just love true stories and family histories so I was smitten,

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.  Ted Rand does and amazing job.  This book has got me looking more at  his illustrations.

Check it out,  Kids love it too.