I felt moved to re-read my set of Jolly Postman books after hearing that Allan Ahlberg died on the 28th July - just last week. Imagine my surprise when I opened the original book - The Jolly Postman - only to discover it was signed by Allan himself! I have absolutely no idea how or where this happened - but yay!
The Jolly Postman delivers letters and cards to the inhabitants of fairy land – and drinks a lot of cups of tea. The book includes six letters in envelopes to pull out and read and on every page are lots of little details to spot.
Allan had briefly worked as a postman but the idea for the book actually came from noticing how much his two-year-old daughter liked playing with the post. She loved to take letters out of envelopes and put them back in again. The Ahlbergs were determined that the envelopes and letters would be part of the book. We may take it for granted now that books can be interactive and playful but it took five years to make The Jolly Postman, partly because the Ahlbergs were insistent that all the details would work perfectly.
The Jolly Postman (1986)
"A Jolly Postman delivers letters to several famous fairy-tale characters such as the Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, and the Three Bears. Twelve of the pages have been made into six envelopes and contain eight letters and cards. Each letter may be removed from its envelope page and read separately."
The Jolly Christmas Postman (1991)
"A Jolly Postman delivers Christmas cards to several famous fairy-tale characters such as the Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, and the Three Bears. Each card may be removed from its envelope page and read separately. With 6 letters in pockets".
The Jolly Pocket Postman (1995)
"Join the jolly postman with his mailbag of delightful deliveries for Dorothy from Oz, Alice from Wonderland, and other favorite storybook characters."
These books are a perfect demonstration of the importance of familiarity with nursery rhymes and fairy tales and later classic stories like The Wizard of Oz. I can see someone developing a thesis around all the myriad of references found in the text and in the tiny corners of the illustrations in each of these books. Look at this picture above - can you spy Rapunzel; Dick Wittington; Jack and the Beanstalk; the little crooked man; and others I cannot identify - can you?
One aspect of the three books that always fascinated and delighted me were the stamps and of course the creative addresses on each envelope.
Pick up your copies of the books and look for these stamps: Old King Cole; the Loch Ness Monster; Cinderella with her Prince and the glass coach; the Queen of Hearts; the Lion and the Unicorn; Georgie Porgie kissing the girl; the house in the tornado from the Wizard of Oz and even a postage paid stamp from "The Sunny side of the Street".
I also have some favourites among the inclusions inside the envelopes:
The Jolly Postman - Hobgoblin Supplies Ltd advertising page; the official publisher letter from Peter Piper Press and the mini book of Cinderella; and the formal legal letter to Mr Wolf from Meeny, Miny, Mo, & Co Attorneys at Law - here is an extract
"Please understand if this harassment does not cease, we will call in the Official Woodcutter, and - if necessary - all the King's horse and all the King's men."
The Jolly Christmas Postman - my favourite thing is the peep hole or concertina book in the final envelope. I mentioned this very recently. And of course the little jigsaw of Humpty Dumpty is such a terrific surprise.
On a rainy day you could have hours of fun with these three books - reading all the inclusions and then playing all the games. You might also like to write some letters or postcards and actually post them - not just send an email - to a family member or friend.
The Humpty Dumpty jigsaw puzzle, the Christmas card to Baby Bear from Goldilocks,
the fold-out board game to Little Miss Riding Hood from a certain Mr Wolf, and
the Toytown Christmas Annual booklet
Now go back and look at other tiny details. For example look for the tiny old fashioned domestic items such as a vacuum cleaner; telephone; mantle clock; grandfather clock; a radio; the witch eating horrid jam; Cinderella has all her newly opened wedding presents beside her; and on the wall of the bedroom behind the wolf who is disguised as Grandma you will see a painting of Red Riding Hood herself. The postman reading his newspaper - Mirror Mirror; in hospital (in the Jolly Pocket Postman) a cat is visiting with a soccer ball and on the next page we see him scoring a goal - Allan Ahlberg loved soccer (football). Did you notice the Gingerbread Boy lives in a house made from a biscuit tin? There is a moving van called the 3 Little Pigs Ltd. There is just so much to discover and to TALK about in these glorious books. I do hope you can find all three to share with your child.
