Stan the Van Man by Philip Webb illustrated by Emma Vere-Jones

 

This is not an earth-shattering book or perhaps even one you need to rush out and read or buy for your library but IF you can find Stan the Van Man it contains an interesting and important story about literacy even though the rhyming singsong style text might drive an adult reader slightly crazy. I am sure young children will enjoy the chaos and funny parcel deliveries and perhaps discover that some adults can have literacy problems. 

Stan volunteers to drive the mail van to help the desperate Post Office owner Miss Mickle. There are heaps of parcels that need to be delivered but along the way Stan also meets people who need his help - a little boy is stuck up a tree and a man needs help with his broken-down car. Once he has helped them, he starts to deliver the parcels but somehow everyone gets the wrong delivery. 

Mrs Vine gets a skateboard, kneepads and a hat; Guy gets two squeaky cat toys; Mr McDrew gets a pink toy horse on a pull along stand; and Miss Brock doesn't find her sunscreen but instead it is a bottle of tomato sauce. Oh, and perhaps worst of all Professor John Moore opens his parcel and finds a pair of frilly ladies' underpants!

Everyone races down to the post office to complain. Then we discover the problem:

"Stan's face went bright red and he lowered his head. 'I've not learned to read,' he replied. ... 'Here's the van key. This job's not for me,' and he turned and walked out the of the door."

How do the people feel? How do they react? Is there something they can do for Stan? Oh, and it fun to think about the way no one swapped their parcels back to the right owner - I wonder what the professor is doing with those undies?

Stan the Van man was published in 2015 by Scholastic in New Zealand - so it might be in your local school library as I imagine it was offered on their book club or in a standing order. 

Blurb from illustrator web page: Miss Mickle’s Post Shop is in chaos. Her van driver has walked off the job, the parcel sack is overflowing and there’s no-one to deliver the mail. When her neighbour Stan offers to help out, Miss Mickle thinks he could be her knight in shining armour. But Stan’s hiding a secret… he can’t read. And now it seems his secret might throw Miss Mickle’s postal service into even more chaos than before… Told in rhyming verse, Stan the Van Man was the recipient of the 2014 Storylines Joy Cowley Award. With illustrations by Philip Webb, this is a heart warming tale recommended for children aged 4-8- or anyone who wants to celebrate the joy of reading.

Companion book (same theme but a more powerful story):

Mr George Baker

The What on Earth Institute of Wonder by Lisa Nicol

Sal's dad has left. Mum, in her grief, is now focused on the moon and not her family. Roy, the younger brother, is sure the end of the world is coming very soon and so he has been preparing his survival gear. Sal has one main friend but he is a bird - a Kakapo named Hector. He just arrived in her room one day and somehow Sal can understand and speak to him - it's a mysterious gift. Then added to all of this now an elephant has arrived. A real elephant. She is huge and totally out of place in this small town. 

"She was a she, and probably around sixteen years old. Surprisingly, though, other than that, the 'experts' had little to add. Her arrival in Larry had them all completely flummoxed. This was not the type of elephant found in circuses or zoos ... These elephants were only found in the most remote and inaccessible jungles of the Congo Basin in central Africa."

The kids really want to rescue the elephant. Roy knows there is one large space in town where they could 'hide' her. It belongs to the post office and it is where the postman named Mr Longbottom lives. There are problems with this idea. Mr Longbottom is a thief, and he hates children but all the adults in the town like and respect him. Also how do they keep the elephant calm? It turns out she likes the same music as Sal's friend Bartholomew. Music like Nina Simone and also all kinds of jazz and this is the music Bartholomew plays everywhere on his boombox. But then the people of the town discover the elephant and Larry is a town that has always been down on its luck. Everyone can see ways to make money out of the elephant but Sal and her friends know all of these ideas are cruel. The time has come to rescue the elephant and take her somewhere safe - but how do they do this? Where can they take her? And what if they get caught?

"Sal cursed herself, too. For breaking into the warehouse in the first place and dragging everyone into all of this. For letting Bartholomew drive without a license. And Roy ... So much for looking after her little brother. In the back of a police car, aged eight-and-a-half? It would be hard to classify that as good care in anyone's book. ... She had failed, all right."

"Bartholomew ... He was probably in the most trouble. After all, he was the one at the wheel. He was the oldest. He was meant to be responsible. While he might have been trying to save the elephant, in doing so he'd endangered all their lives. ... But spending time with the elephant, seeing her love of music. He didn't need a book to know she felt the same things in her heart that he did."

About three quarters of the way through this book I realised I had not discovered any references to the book title. I need to tell you - don't skip ahead - this discovery does not come until the final chapter. It is a neat way of tying up the threads of the story and adding to the happy ending. 

Click on these review comments for more plot details:

Sal doesn’t just rescue an elephant. She saves her family, her friends, and her town in the process and readers cannot help but be alerted to the precarious situation of many of the world’s wildlife. With adventure, family life, humour and drama a-plenty, I heartily recommend this for your readers from around Year 4 upwards. Kids' Book Review

Lisa Nicol’s whimsical way with words is becoming the stuff of legend. Her narratives are an intoxicating mix of wonderment, cheek and incredible heart; a strange combination but one that makes her middle grade novels fulfilling and memorable. The What on Earth Institute of Wonder perpetuates this premise while managing to incorporate an African forest elephant and a New Zealand Kakapo into the same sentence, never mind the same Kombi van! And yes! I knew I was in for something special once a Kombi was mentioned. Dimity Powell

If you are looking for a fast paced, action-packed adventure book, then this is not for you. If you want a gentle and genuine book about hope and the enormous spirit that both human and animal-kind have to offer, then this is the perfect book for you. Storylinks

This delightful book from Lisa Nicol traverses a magical, animal-filled landscape, that brings anxieties and fears to life in a gentle way, that allows readers from ages eight and older to see that it is okay to be worried, that not everything is perfect. It gives a voice to the kids that might not necessarily fit in. Sal and Roy do things a little differently to other kids, and that’s what makes them special – what gives them life. The Book Muse

I picked up The What on Earth Institue in a bookshop because I recognised the name Lisa Nicol. The What on Earth Institute of Wonder was published in 2021. I wonder how I missed it and I am surprised it did not make the 2022 CBCA Book of the Year Younger Readers Notables list.  I read this on the shelf talker label in Gleebooks:

I could not love this book any more! @lisanicolauthor has once again blown our minds with a story so fabulously bonkers and so beautifully written that I had to just lie in a dark room for a good while and appreciate what I had just read…. definitely in the running for one of my favourite books of the year! Rachel Robson Gleebooks

I loved her previous book:

Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth

Companion books:

The Great Elephant Chase

The Magician's Elephant

The Elephant in the Room

Singing with Elephants

Tua and the Elephant

The Girl who Stole an Elephant

A Letter for Bear by David Lucas

"Bear was a postman. There were always lots of letters to deliver. 

But there were never any letters for Bear."

So what do we now know about Bear? Read the words and look closely at the illustrations. He is a hard worker. He delivers the letters no matter what the weather is like. And he is so lonely. On this day the weather is very cold and windy and all the precious letters fall into the snow.  Bear cannot read the address labels so he is forced to visit every home but this makes for the perfect turning point in this story because, in a wonderful scene, he finally meets all his customers.

It has been a day filled with conversations but, arriving home, alone again, Bear feels even more lonely. Luckily Bear is not a guy who wallows in his sorrow. He is a problem solver!

Dear Friends,

Please come to my Christmas party.

Yours sincerely the Postman.

This book has perfectly paced page turns. On the next page we see Bear decorating his cave. On the next page we see him waiting and waiting and waiting. Oh dear no one is coming.

Turn the page again. 

"But then he heard a sweet, and a squeak, and lots of shy little voices saying 'May be come in?"

Everyone enjoys a splendid party but the best surprise of all comes the next day when Bear heads off to work only to discover all of the letter are for him. Can you guess what they say?

Perhaps you are wondering about his arctic friends - they are all included on the back end paper - ptarmigan, robin, arctic fox, snow bunting, ermine, snowy owl, lemming, arctic red poll, arctic hare and waxwing. 

I spied this little book when I was shelving a huge collection of Christmas books in the library I visit each week. It caught my eye because it looked like a different Christmas story, the colours on the cover appealed to me and I like the way the letters of the title have been created with a geometric filler. Inside each page also has a geometric border using these same colours - pink, orange, pale aqua blue and white. 

The illustrations are a marvel to take in with their bold, limited color palette and all the intricate pattern details throughout. I would think that David Lucas has a grand time creating his illustrations. They must cheer just about any heart and I hope they delight yours. Three Books a Night

A wintry, holiday read much like a gingerbread house: ...  poignant, sweet, soul-warming and studded with delicious details that warrant close inspection. Kirkus Star review

This one caught my eye since this rather sweet little bear is on the front cover carrying a large satchel and wearing a smart red peaked cap! I love that Bear is a postman. It seems the right kind of job for him to be doing. But I wasn't entirely prepared for the sad turn the story would take! The Book Bag

Since this book was published in 2013 it is now sadly out of print but I there seem to be plenty of used copies available and as I always say, you might be lucky and find this in a local or school library. Take a look here to see other books by UK author/illustrator David Lucas. See inside this book here.

Here is the perfect companion book:

The Lonely Mailman

I am very keen to read more books by David Lucas: