Special Delivery: A Book's Journey Around the World

by Polly Faber, Klas Fahlén (Illustrator)

Overview

This unique story follows the process of making a book from printing to shipping to selling . . . to reading!

This beautifully illustrated picture book shows the journey of one book from printer to reader. Bright, contemporary artwork details the people, the vehicles, and the distance traveled as one book makes it into the hands of a young boy, allowing readers to understand how the very book they hold in their hands made its way all around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536229851
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/04/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	911,458
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Polly Faber is the author of All Through the Night, illustrated by Harriet Hobday; Building a Home, illustrated by Klas Fahlén; Through the North Pole Snow, illustrated by Richard Jones; Pony on the Twelfth Floor, illustrated by Sarah Jennings; and Mango & Bambang: The Not-a-Pig, illustrated by Clara Vulliamy. She is also a children’s book blogger and volunteer reading helper. She lives with her husband, sons, and cats in London, where she has her own tiny free library right outside her house.

Klas Fahlén is the illustrator of Building a Home, written by Polly Faber. He is inspired by Picasso and the contemporary Swedish illustrator Stina Wirsén. He is known for his simple, elegant lines and colorful illustrations. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Editorial Reviews

06/05/2023

While young Jay, portrayed with brown skin, counts the sleeps until his next birthday, workers help transport a volume—sharing this picture book’s cover—across the globe. The item’s trip begins at a factory, where it is “packed into a box by Cherry, moved along a belt into a crate, and lifted... into the container on Han’s truck,” Faber writes. Others, such as a gantry crane operator named Chi Wan, a container ship captain called Flip, and a warehouse scanner named Hannah, do their part, until Jay’s white-presenting grandmother buys the volume at Pip’s bookstore in anticipation of the big day. By relying on the specific names of workers, who are portrayed with varying skin tones, assonant lines lend intimacy to what’s typically a faceless process. Geometric scenes by Fahlén take place beneath blue skies, brightly spotlighting the process that results in books on readers’ shelves. A twist at the end fittingly drives home the message that people are at the heart of any “special delivery.” Statistics conclude. Ages 2–5. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Using simplified explanations, readers trace a book called Special Delivery as it travels from an overseas factory. . . . Many of the diverse workers throughout are named and individualized, personalizing these often opaque systems and subtly teaching children about everything from jobs to international trade networks. Bright, blocky illustrations depict a wide variety of heavy machinery, sure to enthrall children who can’t get enough of trains, boats, and cranes. Will elegantly satisfy the curiosity of children always asking how things work.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An excellent tool to use with young children when tackling a unit on transportation. Faber approaches this story in a universal manner, by providing a big picture view of the many pieces of the global supply chain—from factory to consumer—and making it intergenerational to boot. . . . With its focus on all the big ships, trucks, trains, and cranes, kids will undoubtedly lap this one up.
—School Library Connection

Dynamic; anyone interested in transportation in all its modes will be fascinated by the path of one book as it travels the globe. A compelling glimpse into the ways of modern industry, and very engaging.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

06/23/2023

Gr 2–5—For a book to arrive into readers' hands, it must first undertake a very long journey. Here, the sojourn begins where it ends, with a boy named Jay anticipating his birthday 40 days away. Starting in a printing press in China, a book is printed and readers follow its journey from there to shipping container, to train, to bookstore, on through postal delivery, and into the hands of the young boy. Along the way workers are named, personalizing the trip and giving human characters a role in the industrial complexities of the modern world. The illustrations are dynamic; anyone interested in transportation in all its modes will be fascinated by the path of one book as it travels the globe. VERDICT A compelling glimpse into the ways of modern industry, and very engaging.—John Scott

School Library Journal

★ 2023-01-12
This book goes on a journey.

Using simplified explanations, readers trace a book called Special Delivery as it travels from an overseas factory. It’s Jay’s birthday in a little over a month, but the story immediately pivots away from the cheerful, brown-skinned child who has an interest in robots, guitar, and all manner of transportation. The real story starts in a sunlit factory surrounded by trees, with Chinese characters on signs and solar panels on the roof, while smiling people work on an assembly line, pack crates of books onto a truck, and deliver them to a dock to be loaded on a container ship. Many of the diverse workers throughout are named and individualized, personalizing these often opaque systems and subtly teaching children about everything from jobs to international trade networks. Bright, blocky illustrations depict a wide variety of heavy machinery, sure to enthrall children who can’t get enough of trains, boats, and cranes. The story ends with the postal system, a local bookstore, and Jay and his loving family, an excellent reminder of the interconnectedness of things and people. Backmatter provides more details sure to delight nonfiction-obsessed kids who are hungry to learn more about global industry and technology. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Will elegantly satisfy the curiosity of children always asking how things work. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews