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

Wishyouwas: The Tiny Guardian of Lost Letters by Alexandra Page

Begin here - watch this video where Alexandra Page talks about her book. 

My choice of this book was based on the very cute cover, on the idea of lost letters and the intrigue of tiny creatures working behind the scenes in the London of 1952. Alexandra Page mentions the Postal Museum. I visited this terrific small museum in 2019 and I highly recommend this as a place to take your children if you are able to visit London. Another reason this book interested me comes from my own letter box. One of my former neighbours regularly receives mysterious mail - the new residents throw these letters into the paper recycling but I often retrieve them and post them back with 'return to sender'.  The mail is mysterious because my neighbour was called 'John' and this mail is addressed to 'Jeremy' and, while every letter comes from a different address, all of them relate to archaeological/heritage matters. When I send them back I wonder if they join the piles of lost letters mentioned in this book.

Publisher blurb: It's 1952 in smog-shrouded London. Christmas might be fast approaching, but with her mum away and Uncle Frank busy running the post office, Penny Black is lonelier than ever.  All that changes when Penny discovers a small, fluffy, funny, springy and – most importantly – talking creature in the post office one night, trying to make off with a letter.  But Wishyouwas is no thief. He's a Sorter, and he soon introduces Penny to a fascinating secret world hidden in the tunnels underneath the city's streets. Self-appointed guardians of lost mail, the Sorters have dedicated their lives to rescuing letters that have gone astray and making sure they get delivered to their rightful owners.  Penny is determined to protect the Sorters, but how long will she be able to keep them safe with Stanley Scrawl, the sinister Royal Mail Rat Catcher, on the prowl? Can Penny save the Sorters and deliver a joyful Christmas?

Read an extract here. Here is the website for the illustrator Penny Neville-Lee.

Wishyouwas is longish book with 267 pages but I read it in almost one sitting today. This is a story that might appeal to younger children aged 7+ but it may be a little too challenging for independant reading and so I suggest you could consider this book as a family bedtime read aloud. Christmas is mentioned but this is not really a Christmas story. Here is the trailer from Bloomsbury. And in this video Alexandra reads from Chapter Seven.

The characters in this book have very sweet (and signficant names). Penny Black is the human hero of the story. Read more about the Penny Black stamp here.  Wishyouwas is her new friend. The sorting Bureau is ruled, in a very strict hierarchy, by Dearmadam and Dearsir. The guards are called Fragile and Handlewithcare and the delightful teacher is Felicitations. I especially loved the character named Thiswayup. He is a true hero in the final battle scene. 

Perhaps you are wondering about the small creatures that feature in this book? Wishyouwas is one of them - that's his name. The mail sorters are tarsiers. This is good choice because they have large 'hands' for mail sorting. They are also nocturnal - which is the perfect time for retrieving and processing lost letters.  They have long tails (and Wishyouwas nearly has his tail sliced off early in the story) and they have eyes which can see in dim light which matches with the underground setting of this story.  In reality tarsiers live in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. 

Wishyouwas reminded me of Umbrella Mouse - which will appeal to a slightly older audience.