Thomas Scofield Handforth was an American artist and etcher. He wrote and illustrated the book Mei Li about his personal experiences in China and won the 1939 Caldecott Medal. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he studied at the University of Washington. Today, Mei Li is a reissue of a book originally published in 1938. Thomas Handforth's magnificent drawings of China in the 1930s are still animated and compelling; the story of Mei Li's Chinese New Year is wordy forced, and sexist by contemporary standards. A Caldecott Medal winner. He was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1897-1948. He studied art at... the University of Washington, and at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. He lived in various locations such as Paris, India, North Africa, Mexico and China. Best known work is Mei Li which won the Caldecott in ’39. Mei Li is about a girl who escapes her traditional life in the Chinese countryside to visit a New Year’s fair.
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