Kevin McCloskey on ‘Lefty’ | Review and Drawn Response

Kevin McCloskey writes and draws science comics for early readers, including We Dig Worms!, The Real Poop on Pigeons!, Something’s Fishy, Snails Are Just My Speed, and Caterpillars: What Will I Be When I Get to be Me? He’s also left-handed, and today we present his review of Lefty, along with some comics that express his own feelings.—Ed.

Lefty
Written by: Mo Willems
Art by: Dan Santat
Union Square Kids
Age range: 4-8

Mo Willems and Dan Santat are two of American’s greatest creators of children’s books. Willems is right-handed. Santat is left-handed. They’ve worked together to make Lefty, a picture book about the sometimes forgotten bias against left-handed people.

As a left-handed cartoonist, I’m admittedly obsessed with this subject. I applaud the book’s wacky design, part puppet show, part comic. Bare handed puppets channel Punch and Judy to banter about this most peculiar prejudice. This give and take is funny, however, the amount of actual information conveyed about left-handedness is shallow. I’m sure kids would be fascinated by the roots of this prejudice. In many parts of the world the bias stems from the age-old practice of cleaning oneself with the left hand and reserving the right for the communal meal. 

The chatty hands don’t appear on every page. Lefty has a two-page spread resembling a medieval woodcut. Peasants with pitchforks and torches are driving a monster out of their village. Oddly, the raging villagers are depicted holding their weapons in their left hands. The text asks the book’s central question, “Did you know, there was a time when people could get in trouble—really, really BIG trouble—for being LEFT-HANDED!?”

(NOTE: As a kid who got into that BIG trouble, I feel compelled to answer this rhetorical question with a drawn response that follows this review.)

Lefty reveals that some famous people are left handed, including Frida Kahlo. Frida may be an imperfect choice for celebrity spokeswoman for lefties. Most photos of Frida at her easel show her painting righty; perhaps she was ambidextrous? Ringo Starr might be a better celebrity lefty. Ringo’s granny insisted her grandson, little Richard Starkey, was possessed by the devil. She forced him to become a righty. Good-natured Ringo credits his forced transition as the source of his distinctive drumming style. 

The narrative of Lefty suggests that this heavy-handed prejudice is ancient history. A mid-20th century America tableau highlights the invention of left-handed scissors as evidence of progress. Ringo and I are old, but we are not of medieval vintage. I’m certain there are many living lefties who have suffered for their nature. I expect there are youngsters today suffering corporal punishment for their left-handedness.

Willems and Santat know their audience. They’ve managed to create a slaphappy book that will appeal to a kid’s sense humor. I am comforted that Lefty demonstrates this particular prejudice is so obviously ridiculous that little kids will laugh out loud at the very thought of it. I hope Lefty also appeals to the reader’s sense of decency. I can’t think of another prejudice that would be considered for a humorous kid’s book.

Full disclosure: My personal perspective on this prejudice, as a survivor, is far crankier than Willems’ and Santat’s. Sure, we can buy a left-handed can opener for home, but what’s the chance of finding one at a vacation rental? Do right-handers even notice when a hotel’s desktop computer has the mouse permanently fixed on the right side? The zipper in your pants is designed to be zipped right-handed. Consider men’s and boys’ underpants, flapped to permit easy right-handed access. Any lefty that’s worked in a factory knows how dangerous that environment can be. Safety switches are routinely placed for the convenience of right-handed operators. How about your faucet handles? Know why the hot water handle is always on the left? To prevent accidental scalding of the right-handed majority. I could go on.

There is one visual detail I especially appreciated. By the end of the book ink smudges are conspicuous on Dan Santat’s left pinky. That image rings true. We lefties are the original pencil pushers, or in this case, marker pushers. Our hands collect far more graphite and ink stains that righties will ever know.

On the penultimate spread, the righty puppet asks another important rhetorical question, “You can’t be born wrong, right?” This is a subtle call to consider other, more serious, prejudices, like racism and sexism. Will it occur to kids that nobody chooses to be left handed, just like nobody chooses to be gay? Ideally, parents and teachers reading Lefty aloud can lead a discussion to connect the dots. After all, are we not human, with hearts in our chests, located just left of center?

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