★ "Drawn 'with a deft hand that could convey the speed of hurdling space projectiles,' Guillaume Perreault's The Postman from Space is the jocular story of Bob, a spacial postman who is really quite ordinary. . . . Perreault makes excellent use of blank space to keep his illustrations uncluttered, his panels drawn in a thin, uneven black line with many pages free of panels altogether. He makes the art all the more dynamic by visually differentiating Bob's new delivery stops with individual color palettes. The Postman from Space is an imaginative graphic novel perfect for both solo and shared reading experiences."—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review
★ "Light and spirited, the book dazzles, especially in its final pages, which carry a warm optimism about life that’s cheery and instructive. The Postman from Space is a brilliant, funny, and heartwarming tale."—Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
"The worlds created here are delightfully unusual, transporting readers to planets full of intriguing and inquisitive inhabitants. Each individual vignette contains interesting visual details to be explored on second readings. An early elementary tale fit for all ages that serves as a reminder that trying something new can bring delightful and unexpected results."—Booklist
"A visual feast to remind kids that new experiences and challenges create memories that last a lifetime."—School Library Journal
"The drawings are so masterful that they become a sort of understated joke. The more marvels Bob sees, the more desperate he is to end this day of mishaps. But even Bob has to pause, a few pages from the end, and admire the sheer beauty of the world outside his window." —Kirkus Reviews
"This is a younger comic with a gentle lesson of trying something new. It’s easy to forget about comics for those younger readers sometimes . . . it’s essentially a short story for kids. It all boils down to getting out of your comfort zone and how that often isn’t a fun experience at first, but can grow on you." —A Fuse #8 Production
2020-02-09
This graphic import from Québec is science fiction for anyone who finds Star Wars too invigorating.
In the early Star Wars movies, the backgrounds were usually more interesting than what was happening in the foreground, and this graphic novel borrows the same technique. As Bob the titular postman shuttles letters from one planet to another, he’s always passing something astonishing: a world shaped like an enormous dog bone or a post-office space station shaped like a mailbox. This irritates him, because Bob likes his postal route dull and routine. Any change gives him a stomachache. Fortunately, nothing that happens here is remotely exciting, though Bob is increasingly annoyed by these mundane postal glitches. He trips in the mud or gets chased by dogs. The main exception is a lengthy parody of The Little Prince, which will be funny only to those who recognize the source. The scenes in the background, however, are stunning, with impossible, Escher-style architecture and a mail cart that hovers just above the ground. (Bob, fittingly, is a bland shade of white, but other characters have green skin or puce beaks.) The drawings are so masterful that they become a sort of understated joke. The more marvels Bob sees, the more desperate he is to end this day of mishaps. But even Bob has to pause, a few pages from the end, and admire the sheer beauty of the world outside his window.
The space vistas are spectacular, if readers overlook the tedious postman in front of them. (Graphic science fiction. 7-10)
04/20/2020
This comically low-key import follows Bob, “a special postman. A postman from space,” who prefers that his life be “nice and easy,” featuring a regular morning routine and a standard delivery route. When his boss reassigns the routes (“You’ll be getting a different one every day”), Bob sets out to places he’s never been: planets, remote locations, and an asteroid across the galaxy. Told in six chapters, one for each delivery and his return trip, Bob’s journey presents endless frustrations that disrupt his want for “simple and orderly”—sudden rain, an unreasonable Little Prince–like customer who demands the postman “draw me a sheep,” and language barriers, to name a few. It’s easy to identify and empathize with Bob’s frustration, making his moments of defeat (a filthy uniform, a lost sandwich, exasperation with unyielding demands) all the more satisfying. Though it features simple shapes, Perreault’s art is anything but plain—clean lines and bright highlight colors lend visual accessibility to the myriad extraterrestrial characters, and large panels keep the story moving along at a decent clip. In one memorable spread, Bob careens uncontrollably through an asteroid belt back to his ship, demonstrating Perreault’s ability to create strong movement in single-panel illustrations. Ages 7–up. (Apr.)
03/27/2020
Gr 2–5—Bob is a mail carrier who delivers packages between planets. Despite the interplanetary spin, it's an ordinary job with routine duties. But then there's a change of plans and Bob gets a new route every day. Though he's anxious, he pulls up his space bootstraps, delivering a package in rain and mud, navigating an asteroid belt and space junk, fleeing a pack of desert space dogs on his hovercraft, taking orders from a demanding customer (shout-out to The Little Prince), and bargaining with pesky aliens meddling with his ship. Upon his return, Bob realizes that it wasn't so bad—in fact, the old cactus lady on the messy planet makes the best cookies in the galaxy. And his universe is a surprisingly beautiful place. Bob's boss offers him the option to return to his old route, but he opts for a life of unexpected adventures. Perreault's graphic layout alternates between large single frames and smaller multiple panels to portray narrative action, emotion, and panoramic vistas of Bob's universe. Each planet is rendered in a handsome palette of muted browns, oranges, greens, blues, and grays. This award-winning graphic novel was originally published in French in Montreal; hopefully the sequel will be translated into English soon—Bob delivers a mysterious letter with a new trainee. VERDICT A visual feast to remind kids that new experiences and challenges create memories that last a lifetime.—Rita Christensen, Orem Public Library, UT
