Chih-Yi Chan

The sheltered young son of a wealthy merchant, Wah Toong longed for playmates of his own, and for the chance to have his own horse. Making a horse out of paper one day, he is dismayed when a strong wind blows his new plaything over the garden wall - until he discovers that his next-door-neighbor has magically transformed the paper creature into one of flesh and blood. This good-natured equine does everything that Wah Toong tells him, with unexpectedly disastrous results, eventually becoming something of a pariah. Desperately unhappy, and believing himself to be a bad-luck horse rather than a good-luck one, he runs away to the north, meeting and mating with a lovely mare on the other side of the Great Wall. Returning to the house of Wah Toong in order to introduce his new mate to his people, the horse continues to be involved in both lucky and unlucky incidents, until his unprecedented actions, in putting a stop to a looming war between north and south, settles the question of whether he is lucky or unlucky once and for all.

Published in 1943 and chosen as one of five Caldecott Honor Books in 1944 - the other honorees that year were Small Rain: Verses from the Bible, Pierre Pidgeon, The Mighty Hunter and A Child's Good Night Book - this retelling of a traditional Chinese folktale is noteworthy for the extreme youth of its award-winning illustrator. Just twelve years old when he drew the illustrations for The Good-Luck Horse, Plato Chan is the youngest artist to ever receive a nod from the Caldecott committee. The son of a Chinese diplomat, Chan was educated in a number of different countries, and was living in New York with his mother - the author of this retelling - when the book was produced. This is all very impressive of course - all the more so since I enjoyed the artwork here a great deal. I think the colored scenes - done in blue and pinkish-orange - were superior to the black and white ones, but they were all quite appealing. The story itself is interesting, although a little too wordy for younger children, perhaps. I finished this one with a desire to know more about the tale being presented - has it appeared in other forms, and in other written sources? If so, where? I'll have to keep an eye out for it...… (mais)