''The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters'' is an interactive children's picture book by

Janet and Allan Ahlberg Janet Ahlberg (21 October 1944 – 15 November 1994; née Hall) and Allan Ahlberg (born 5 June 1938) were a British married couple who created many children's books, including picture books that regularly appear at the top of "most popular" li ...

. The innovative project required five years to complete, and much discussion with both the publisher Heinemann and the printer before it was issued in 1986. The first subject heading assigned by

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

is "Toy and movable books".

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

published a U.S. edition in the same year. ''The Jolly Postman'' has sold more than six million copies, Allan Ahlberg told ''The Guardian'' in 2006. It made innovative use of envelopes to include letters, cards, games and a tiny book. Alternatively, The Jolly Postman is a series of three books including 1991 and 1995 sequels to ''The Jolly Postman, or Other people's letters''. In the U.K., the first book received the

Red House Children's Book Award The Children's Book Award is a British literary award for children's books, run by the Federation of Children's Book Groups and previously known as the Red House Children's Book Award. Books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar yea ...

and the

Kurt Maschler Award The Kurt Maschler Award (1982 to 1999) was a British literary award that annually recognised one "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other." Winning authors and i ...

. The second book won the 1991

Greenaway Medal The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

for British children's book illustration.

Summary

''The Jolly Postman'' follows an unnamed

mail carrier A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...

as he delivers letters by bicycle to characters from traditional children's stories that are well known in Britain. Following each sheet of narrative verse and illustration, there is one shaped like an

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter (message), letter or Greeting card, card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one o ...

and containing one of the postman's deliveries. Each envelope is opened and its enclosure read at that point in the story.

gives the entire description: "A Jolly Postman delivers letters to several famous fairy-tale characters such as the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''. Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory ant ...

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

, 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."

Awards

The Ahlbergs won two major British book awards for ''The Jolly Postman'', the 1986

and 1987

. The Dutch translation of the book ''De puike postbode'' won the Boekensleutel literary award in 1988. From 1982 to 1999 the "Emil" figurines from Maschler publishers and BookTrust annually recognised the creator(s) of one "work of imagination for children, in which text and illustration are integrated so that each enhances and balances the other". The Federation of Children's Book Groups award (now named for the bookseller Red House) "celebrate the books that children themselves love reading". The winner is determined by vote of British children. Janet Ahlberg was a commended runner up for the 1986

and she won the 1991 Greenaway for the sequel. The annual award by the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2002 as a merger of th ...

then recognised the year's best children's book illustration by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

Series

Following ''The Jolly Postmans success, the Ahlbergs and Heinemann produced two sequels. The latter, third in the series, was published after Janet's death in 1994. For the second book, ''The Jolly Christmas Postman'', she won her second

Kate Greenaway Medal The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

. * The Jolly Postman (1986, U.K.)"The jolly postman, or, Other people's letters"
(first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-08-31. :"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 postman, or, Other people's letters"
(one catalogue record for the first U.S. edition). WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-07-19. * The Jolly Christmas Postman (1991, U.K. ) :"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, U.K. , 60236253) U.S.
/ref> :"Join the jolly postman with his mailbag of delightful deliveries for Dorothy from Oz, Alice from Wonderland, and other favorite storybook characters.""The jolly pocket postman"
(first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-08-31.

Notes

References

External links

Toy and movable books Specimens
subject class at