Jolly Postman: Or Other People's Letters Book

The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters is the first book in a series of three written by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, which follows a Postman in his "uniform of postal blue" on his morning deliveries and is perfect for an Early Years Foundation or Key Stage One classroom.

With the use of narrative verse and illustrations, children are able to join the unnamed Postman on his journey, as he cycles to the houses of characters from traditional children's stories such as, The Three Little Bears and Cinderella, and delivers their letters. By including pages shaped as envelopes, Janet and Allan Ahlberg have added the element of curiosity to this book, as it instantly becomes interactive, enabling children to delve into the envelopes to retrieve each letter.

Each character's letter has a connection with their traditional story and gives children a new and interesting concept of how traditional stories can be adapted and reconceptualized. Through activities such as, hot seating, children can then begin to test their knowledge of the characters and the stories connected to them, and then imagine how this story could be told differently.

The Jolly Postman books are ideal for the introduction of letter writing in English lessons. By using this text in the classroom there is an opportunity to open the discussion of why people send letters and the technique for writing a good letter. As well as letters, this book also encourages children to explore how to write catalogues, cards and short stories which are introduced when the Postman delivers letters to the Witch, Goldilocks and Cinderella.

The cross-curricular links for this book are Geography, Art and Design and Drama. Creating a map for the Postman allows children to explore direction and distances, designing a stamp/postcard allows them to explore their creativity and through acting out the story of The Jolly Postman children begin to understand how written stories can be adapted to physical movement and also explore how to embody the characteristic of each character.

This book was one of my favourite stories as a child and will continue to be one of my favourites. Its educational value is endless!