Books I've Loved: The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet & Allan Ahlberg
My sister owns a wonderful picture book called The Jolly Christmas Postman. When I was young, perhaps five or six, I would often ask her if I could borrow it (she was five years older than me, so I needed her permission). She kept it on a middle shelf in her wardrobe, stacked on top of a big book about fairies. I used to bring it back to my room and settle down to go through it. Sometimes, when my sister wasn’t around, I would sneak into her room and take it, being careful not to disturb anything else on the shelf.
It is possibly one of the most interactive picture books I have read. The story followed a postman on his journey delivering letters on Christmas Eve. Most of the left pages were in fact sleeves illustrated to look like envelopes, with whatever item was being delivered to a character in the story tucked inside. These characters were taken from nursery rhymes, such as Humpty Dumpty, Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Boy. The items included a jigsaw puzzle, a mini board game, a postcard, and a wolf spotter’s guide (from Mr. Wolf, of course); my favourites were the mini mock up of The Toy Town Christmas Annual, and the concertina card at the very end of the book, where you could look through a letterbox slit and see all of the characters the postman had encountered.
I would usually read the book lying down on the carpet, in the narrow space between my bed and my wardrobe (it seemed bigger then), so I could spread everything out on the floor. I always went through the book slowly, savouring each item that came out of the envelopes. Each time I would complete the puzzle, read the story of ‘The Robber Money Box’ in The Toy Town Christmas Annual and continually fold the concertina card in and out with one eye pressed to the letterbox slit.
Left to right: Interior illustration of Santa's workshop; interior spread showing Red Riding Hood's house.
The written story was enjoyable in itself; it was written in rhyme, and was entertaining and easy to follow. This, combined with the illustrations and interactive elements, made it an almost magical experience for me as a child, and I loved reading it. I also enjoyed recognising the characters from other nursery rhymes that I knew. It made the story seem more real, as it connected with my other childhood reading experiences.
At one stage I had the entire thing memorised (the rhyming definitely helped). I remember being somewhat disappointed my sister never let me keep the book; but of course it was hers to begin with, and her attachment to it was probably as great as mine.
For all the picture book lovers out there (children or adult), I highly recommend.
