Evaluation

Evaluation of Minn of the Mississippi

When it was first published in 1951, Minn of the Mississippi was received by the public and critics with a great deal of success and praise.  For many readers the book’s artistic style and narrative format were instantly recognizable in keeping with exactly what they had come to expect from Holling’s other children’s books.  The book provided its readers with an encyclopedic coverage of an entire geographic region of the country through its main character’s travel narrative and accompanying black and white illustrations and full page scenes.  The book remains relatively popular to the present day and has continued to resonate with today’s young readers.  The timelessness of the narrative and beauty of the book’s illustrations have helped continue its relevancy with today’s audiences.

For the most part, Minn has continued to be viewed in a similar fashion throughout the history of its publication.  The book has been praised mainly for the amount of factual information it is capable of conveying to readers while remaining entertaining at the same time.  The story places its main character and the river in a fairly ahistorical setting in which many different eras of the river’s history are weaved into the larger narrative.  This mixing of historical periods allowed the narrative to convey a broader set of facts about the Mississippi’s long history and kept the story from becoming stale for future readers by not limiting the setting to contemporary 1950’s America.  The book’s ability to take its readers on a journey through history as well as down the river allows the reader to constantly satisfy their own curiosity by never quite being allowed to fully settle into any one of the book’s settings that Minn passes through.

Growing up, I fell in love with this book and many of Holling’s other works for that very reason.  For me, Minn was a sort of informational escapism that allowed me to explore an area of the country I had never traveled through.  The book took me on a very bizarre road trip in my head and included a lot of the highlights that I would have seen in parks and tourist stops along the way.  In many ways I’ve seen the book as a sort of intellectual precursor to other information dense children’s books such as Joanna Cole’s The Magic School Bus series of the 1990’s.  In both Cole and Holling’s works the theme of a journey or exploration provide the means for exposing its young readers to a large body of educational material while keeping them entertained.

How readers have viewed Minn’s educational value over the years has certainly changed.  At the time of its publication it was praised for being rich in information and facts, but it was equally praised for its colorful full-page illustrations as well.  Today, the book is experiencing somewhat of a renaissance amongst many homeschooling networks that value the book as an educational text that can be easily incorporated into a lesson plan.    Ready made lesson plans on geography and biology focused on Holling’s books may now be purchased from homeschooling resource websites.  One such lesson plan called Geography Through Literature advertises itself as being the best method of “getting the most out of Holling’s books.”  Using Holling’s works as the main texts of a child’s education, however, has many implications that go beyond anything the author most likely intended in the creation of his stories.  Holling never intended for his books to be the centerpiece of a child’s education, but instead sought to pique his readers’ curiosity to seek out more knowledge on the topics he covered.  While the books certainly contain a great deal of educational value, I believe Hollings never intended them to serve in the function of text book.

A Home School Primer Using Holling's Books

Holling, Holling Clancy, Minn of the Mississippi. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1951.

“Geography Through Literature.”  Heppner’s Legacy: Homeschool Resources. http://legacyhomeschool.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3050&zenid=c17e6898f355b77a9abb43dc95ff32a0: accessed 11-11-2012.

Critical Reception

Initial Reception

Minn of the Mississippi was received with generally positive acclaim at the time of its publication.  Holling had already made a name for himself in children’s books with Paddle to the Sea and Seabird.  The majority of critics immediately noted a connection of trends between Minn and Holling’s previous works.  Like his previous works, Minn was also a large format book with a mix of black and white illustrations in the margins and full page color illustrations evenly distributed throughout the story.  Also, the narrative played out quite similarly to his other works as a hybrid almanac/narrative providing young readers with a wide variety of facts on the region explored by the story’s main character.  A Kirkus review from the time praises the book describing it as “bursting with legend, history, natural science, convincing personalities and even a few wise saws...bound to keep the reader happy and busy for some time.” Although Horn Book's reviewer appreciated the format of the book, the reviewer did lament that the book followed the conventions of Holling's previous children's books too closely.  Nearly all critics pointed out the book’s educational qualities that were made entertaining for young readers by Holling’s use of art and narrative.  The educational aspects of the story have continued to be the most highlighted aspect of the book’s value to young readers throughout its years of publication.

Complete Listing of Contemporary Reviews

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) New Yorker, December 1 1951, Vol. 27, p188-188.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) By: Kieran, M. Atlantic (01606506), Dec 1951, Vol. 188, p104-104.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) By: Randall, Averil Library Journal (1876)., 15 Nov 1951, Vol. 76, p1945-1945.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Christian Science Monitor, 4 Oct 1951, p11-11.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Saturday Review of Literature., November 10 1951, Vol. 34, p70-70.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Wilson Bulletin (0733-5105), Sep 1951, Vol. 47, p219-219.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Bull VA Kirkus' Bookshop Serv, 15 Sep 1951, Vol. 19, p530-530.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) New York Herald Tribune, 11 Nov 1951, p4-4.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Horn Book Magazine, Dec 1951, Vol. 27, p411-411.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Booklist, 1 Oct 1951, Vol. 48, p52-52.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) Bookmark (Albany, N.Y.)., Nov 1951, Vol. 11, p35-35.

Minn of the Mississippi (Book Review) By: P., G. Chicago Sunday Tribune, 11 Nov 1951, p11-11.


Later Reception:

Minn of the Mississippi has remained a well loved book and can still be found in print to this day.  School Library Journal has recently described it as an “outstanding book with beautiful colored illustrations” which has the ability to draw a large audience of readers “including adults.”  In 1997 the New York Times included Minn within its list of fifty notable children’s books of the past fifty years.  Although few reviews of Minn have been published in trade magazines and newspapers since its initial publication, the rise of the internet and personal blogs demonstrates the continued use and reception of the book.  

Interestingly enough a number of home school resource forums on the internet have highlighted the book for its educational utility.  In fact, a very large number of conservative Christian home school networks have highlighted the book for its descriptions of geography and history.  One Christian book site, Exodus Books, cautions parents: “Please note that there is a very minor amount of evolutionary content.”  But the politics of science and faith aside, many Christian homeschoolers appreciate the books straightforward presentation of factual data with a morally pure story of the life of a turtle.  One homeschool teacher reviews the book on Christianbook.com praising Holling for his “imaginative grasp and touch of originality” that “open the door of a child’s mind.”


“Minn of the Mississippi.” School Library Journal, Nov. 2005.

“50 Years of Children’s Books.” New York Times, 16 Nov. 1997 http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/books/children-s-books-50-years-of-children-s-books.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

“Minn of the Mississippi.” Exodus Books: http://www.exodusbooks.com/details.aspx?id=2126.

“Minn of the Mississippi.” Christianbook.com: http://www.christianbook.com/minn-of-the-mississippi-paperback/holling-holling/9780395273999/pd/73994

Production History

Production History

Sales and prevelance:  Minn of the Mississippi sold very well at the time of its publication going through several printing in its first years of publication.    It continues to be published to this day.  A search of most major online book retailers shows a wide variety of options for purchasing new copies of the book.  A search on Worldcat shows 1,439 libraries listing the book’s availability from their catalogs.   

Partial Printing History:

1951: First printing (Houghton Mifflin Co, Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA)
1951: Second printing (Houghton Mifflin Co, Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA)
1952: Third Printing (Houghton Mifflin Co, Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA)
1953: German Translation (Comel, Cologne, Germany)
1963: Cadmus books edition (E.M. Hale, Eau Claire, WI)
1978: (Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, MA)
1979: Copyright Renewed (Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, MA)
1979: Special Ed. (Trumpet Club, New York, NY)
1989: Special Ed. Reprint (Trumpet Club, New York, NY)
2001: 50th Anniversary Edition (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA)

Relationship to other works:  Although not a part of a particular series, Minn of the Mississippi corresponds strongly to the geographic themes of many of Hollings other works.  Much like Paddle to the Sea (1941), Tree in the Trail (1942) and Seabird (1943), Minn was written as an instructive story that provided its young readers with a large amount of geographic and historic information along with its narrative.

Variations: The book was generally published in the same large picturebook format throughout the entirety of its publication. After receiving the Newbrry honor in 1952, covers depicted a Newbery honor medal proudly on all book jackets published thereafter. Paper quality in editions dating from the late 70's and on appear to have either suffered from less aging or may have been printed on paper less prone to acidic yellowing. The major difference that has occurred during the course of printing began with the late 1970's printing of soft cover editions. These copies are simple paper and glue binding jobs with glossy thick paper being used as the exterior material. These cheaper paperback editions are slightly smaller and feature illustrations reaching to the exact edges of each page with no marginal areas that can be found in the hardbound editions.

Awards and Honors: Newbery Honor 1952

Advertisements:  

Advertisements for Minn of the Mississippi have emphasized its educational qualities by pairing it with other historic and geographic picture books.  Others have placed it with children’s adventure stories.  Houghton Mifflin’s website today advertises the work saying “the history of the Mississippi is told in text and pictures through the adventures of Minn.”  Paperback copies are currently sold at $11.95 and hardback copies are sold for $21.00

An advertisement dating from December 2, 1951 in the Boston Globe describes the book as a story that “tells the life of a great river.”  It also speaks of the book as being the fourth in a series of works and connects Minn thematically to Holling’s previous publications.

Another advertisement entitled “Houghton Mifflin’s Fall Roundup” found in the Chicago Tribune from November 11, 1951 describes the book as a story that is “rich in river lore.”  The book is encouraged for readers ages 8-12 and is advertised alongside notices for a biography of Robert E. Lee and an ad for a book about wild horses of the Southwest.  Both advertisements list the book’s original price as $3.00 (exactly 1/7 of today’s hardback price.)

Chicago Daily Tribune Advertisement, Nov. 11, 1951.  Unfortunately the image has expired due to the database I took it from.

Resources

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Website: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780395175781&srch=true Accessed 10-13-2012.

Advertisement: 1951, Nov. 11. Chicago Tribune: pt. 4, pg. 22.

Advertisement: 1951, Dec. 2. The Boston Globe: A, 28.

Holling, Holling Clancy. Minn of the Mississippi. Cambridge: Riverside Press, Houghton Mifflin, 1951.

Holling, Holling Clancy. Minn of the Mississippi. Cambridge: Riverside Press, Houghton Mifflin, 1953.

Holling, Holling Clancy. Minn of the Mississippi. New York: Trumpet Club, 1979.

Holling, Holling Clancy. Minn of the Mississippi. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Worldcat: http://www.worldcat.org/title/minn-of-the-mississippi/oclc/480499/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true Accessed 10-12-2012.

Bibliographic Description

Bibliographic Description

Cover:  

Title Page Transcription:  MINN
                                        OF THE
                                        MISSISSIPPI

                                       WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY
                                       HOLLING CLANCY HOLLING
                                       [Illustration]
                                       HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY . BOSTON
                                       THE RIVERSIDE PRESS CAMBRIDGE
                                       1951


Title Page :

Title Page Verso Transcription: DEDICATION

     [ "This book is affectionately dedicated to my niece, Linda Lu Mahoney. The story began one morning in Linda's home. Long before she was up the words began trailing from a pencil, in the room where she plays. Later on she watched - as her mother, Gwendalin, once watched my peculiar scribblings.
Gwen was not an enthusiastic herpetologist. However, she liked to watch from the roots of big walnut stumps while I waded waist-deep in the pond, capturing turtles. To help me out, she even held a few while my hands were full.
Linda likes turtles, that is she liked turtles brought by boys as this story got under way. Her grandmother Lulah, from whom came half her name, found us Great-Grandmother Laura's big butter crock for a turtle pen. Linda thought it nice that I could look down at bright-eyed turtles as I typed. It was agreed that even the turtles seemed interested. Edward, Linda's father thought that he could bring her a crockful of turtles from the Au Sable River. More or less.
Perhaps Linda never got a crockful of turtles. Perhaps she prefers to see them swimming in a pond like the pond her mother knew. That is as it should be. But the little turtles in the big crock, and the interest in Linda's eyes - all helped in the making of this book.]

                                                   COPYRIGHT, 1951, BY HOLLING CLANCY HOLLING
                                        ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE
                                                   THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
                                                    PRINTED IN THE USA

Spine Transcription: Holling     MINN of the MISSISSIPPI  H.M. CO.

Binding:   

The book is bound with yellow cloth reinforced with thick cardboard inserts.  Edges of the fabric are beginning to fray and the spine’s fabric has begun to tear away from the cardboard.  However, this copy is over 60 years old and has aged well for a large children’s book.  All pages are intact and stitched securely into the binding.  More recent printings of the book are currently available from a variety of vendors and are held by many libraries.




Jacket Copy: This was originally published with a jacket. With some ILL handiwork I was able to locate a jacketed copy of the book. The book's jacket was printed in full color on thick non-glossy paper. Unfortunately, the material has become rather brittle through the years and has begun to crack at the edges. This would explain why locating an original with a jacket was initially so difficult.

Introductory Material: There is a dedication to the author’s niece, Linda Lu Mahoney.  Also, there is an acknowledgement from the author thanking individuals who helped with the book’s research and production.

Table of Contents :

Size: 22 cm width, 28 cm height, 1.5 cm thick.

Pages: 85 pages.

Font: Linotype.

Physical presentation of the text: The story’s text is attractively presented aligned to the right side of the page leaving large margins on the top, bottom, and left of the page for black and white illustrations and instructional diagrams.  This provides the sense of a body of text with playful marginal notations that add further points of interests to the turtle’s journey.  

Paper: The pages are very sturdy and thick.  They show no signs of crumbling, however, they do appear have suffered from acidic discoloration and many of the white pages have faded to an off white or yellow hue.  Pages with color illustrations, however, have held up quite well.

Number and extant of illustrations: 20 full page color illustrations and a copious amount of black and white illustrations in the rest of the pages’ margins.  Full page illustrations appear every fourth page.

Sample Color Page:

Sample Black and White Page :

Resources:

Holling, Holling Clancy.  Minn of the Mississippi.  Cambridge, Ma: Riverside Press, Houghton Mifflin, 1951.

Worldcat: http://www.worldcat.org/title/minn-of-the-mississippi/oclc/480499/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true.  Accessed 10-10-2012.

Holling Clancy Hollings: About the Author

Holly Clancy Holling

Born: August 2, 1900 Jackson County, Michigan

Died: Septermber 7, 1973 Pasadena, California

Holling Clancy Holling (originally named Holling Allison Clancy) was born into a fairly upper-middle-class existence as the son of a Jackson County, Michigan’s superintendent of schools.  The area he grew up in was and remains to this day an agrarian section of Central Michigan located between Battle Creek and Ann Arbor.  During his childhood, Holling felt a strong connection to the natural world and fondly recalled many trips to the forests of Michigan where he fostered a strong curiosity about all plants and animals he came in contact with.  From an early age he also began to express himself artistically through writings and drawings of the natural world around him.  In his Something About the Author profile, Holling is said to have claimed that by his early adolescence he had made up his mind that he intended to one day eventually become a professional writer and illustrator of children’s literature.

 
In order to make his dream a reality, Holling left Michigan as young man to attend the School of the Art Institute in Chicago where he studied draftsmanship and the graphic processes in print-making.  He graduated from this program in 1923.  During his studies he had the opportunity to explore many emerging techniques in graphic design and illustration that he would later apply to his children’s books. The most significant of these being full color print work that became a staple of his children's books.  His final year in the program was spent off-campus at the Taos art colony in New Mexico where he met with many influential artists of the 20’s such as Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe.  Following his time in the program at the Art Institute, he worked from 1923-26 in Chicago’s Field Museum as a member of the taxidermy department.  Here he was able to pursue much of his passion for the natural world and combine it with his skills as a professional artist.  It was during this period that he married his wife Lucille Webster (a fellow artist) whom he married in 1925.  Lucille played a very active role in nearly every children’s book Holling produced and contributed a great deal to the artistic layout and illustration of each story.  He and his wife would later leave the Midwest and settled in southern California. Despite dedicating their lives to children's literature, the Hollings never had any children of their own. 
 
Holling spent the next decade working at a series of occupations in which he was able to utilize his artistic ability professionally.  He served as an art instructor on NYU’s University World Cruise from 1926-27 after which he spent several years working in advertising as a creative consultant while conducting freelance work for newspapers.  He wrote and illustrated a series of Sunday comic strips entitled The World Museum during the 1930’s which detailed various scenes from natural history or famous historical events that could be cut out and assembled by children into a three dimensional diorama.  

One of Holling's World Museum Pieces

                                                           

The Hollings with their World Museum dioramas.

It was during this period that Holling began to produce his first children’s books. Starting with New Mexico Made Easy published by himself in 1923, Holling began a career in creating children's books centered largely around the natural world and historical themes. His earliest works were limited to smaller presses and are difficult to track down today, however, with the publication of Paddle to the Sea in 1941 he was able to gain the attention of the larger publishing house of Houghton Mifflin and gained a wider audience of readers.  True to his own childhood fascinations, Holling’s works can be interpreted as encyclopedic presentations of the topics they cover.  His stories serve as a simple framework for an elaborate and almost almanac-style listing of facts to satisfy the curiosities of his readers.  What is most impressive about his work is that he is able to convey all these details and facts to a children’s audience in a very entertaining manner.  In one interview Holling explains his impetus in writing children’s literature stating that as a child “there were thousands of questions in my mind, and very few answers in the books I had.”  Holling was very critical of contemporary children’s books on history and the natural world, and argued they were overly simple and lacked the smaller details to satisfy childhood curiosity.  Children, as he understood them, were curious and inquisitive.  His books sought to satisfy their many questions and encourage them to seek out more on the various topics he covers in each book.

From a survey of his books it is easy to see that Holling never lost his childhood sense of curiosity and spent much of his adult life traveling to various places and asking questions about local history and nature everywhere he went.  The book for which he is most well known, Paddle to the Sea (1941), provides young readers with the tale of child’s toy model of a Native American in a canoe and its journey across the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.  Along the way, Holling provides his readers with a very detailed geographic description of the Great Lakes region that feels quite similar to a very dynamic museum exhibit with the wide variety facts and information conveyed to the reader by his narration and illustrations.  This theme of a journey across space (and occasionally time) is his standard narrative device in each of his most popular children’s books.
 

Minn of the Mississippi ties in quite well with what readers expect of Holling.  His opening acknowledgment humorously states: “This is a book about a river, and a turtle in it.”  This book follows the journey of a young snapping turtle from the source of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.  Along the way we are presented with a large volume of geographic and scientific data including schematics of how river locks work and even instructions on building a terrarium for your own pet turtle.  A Kirkus review of the book describes the book as “a bountiful collection of loving detail and a good story, that is bound to keep the reader happy and busy for some time."  The book was very well received at the time and received a Newberry honor in 1952.  Much like his other publications, Minn has a strong shelf life with young readers and has been republished in many editions since its 1951 publication.  The illustrations and side notes continue to attract young readers’ interests well after the first reading.  Much like his other books, Minn showcases Holling’s fascination with the region he writes about and conveys that enthusiasm well to his young readership.   

Resources

Holling, Holling Clancy, Minn of the Mississippi. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1951.

"The World Museum: The Creeping Wall." The Atlanta Constitution. June 6, 1937: Third Comic Section.

"Holling C(lancy) Holling (1900-)." Something about the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Vol. 15. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 135-138. Something About The Author Online. Gale. University Library,University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 17 September 2012

“Review of Minn of the Mississippi.” in Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service 19.18 (15 Sept. 1951): 530-531. Rpt. in Children’s Literature Review. Ed. Deborah J. Morad. Vol. 50. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Sep. 2012.

Ramsey, Irvin L. "Holling C. Holling: Author and Illustrator." Authors and Illustrators of Children's Books: Writings on Their Lives and Works. R. R. Bower Company, 1972. 209-216. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Deborah J. Morad. Vol. 50. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Sep. 2012.