Seven Little Postmen

By Margaret Wise Brown and Edith Thacher Hurd

Pictures by Tibor Gergely

Copyright 1952

I purchased this book recently because it is a vintage Little Golden Book I had never seen before and the story and illustrations are endearing.  I didn’t realize until after I bought it that the author is Margaret Wise Brown who wrote a few of my favorite children’s books.  In Seven Little Postmen, a little boy writes a letter to his Grandma.  The story follows that letter from the boy’s house, passing through many busy hands, all the way to his Grandma’s house, many miles away.

While the methods of delivering messages have changed so much since this book was written, the postal service is still relevant to our lives.  While reading a book to a child can teach them so much about their world, real experiences enforce the lessons learned.  That’s why I decided to set up a Post Office Center in our library.  Children can remove pre-written post cards from the big mailbox and deliver them to the slots of their favorite book characters.  Not pictured here are the two mail carrier costumes. They were created after a child, searching for the appropriate costume, donned the police jacket instead and claimed that he was a police postman.  

The best part of this Center is that children can then (usually with adult help) write post cards to the characters, stamp them, and drop them in the mailbox.  When they return to the library, they will find an answer, written by that character.  The walls around the Post Office are now filled with the letters and responses.  Some children ask if Curious George or Pete the Cat can come over to their homes to play.  “I’d love to play with you.  We would have so much fun” is the answer. Other letters say simply, “I love you”.  The response for that always includes an “I love you too”.  Some are more pointed.  A child asked Llama Llama where his Grandma is.  The answer:  She is on vacation in Florida.

The children are enjoying the little Post Office Center, and so are those of us who help Curious George and Pete the Cat write their responses!