Does This Require Extra Postage?

The Lost Package
Written by Richard Ho & Illustrated by Jessica Lanan
Age Level: 3-7 Years
Published March 2, 2021

Send me a care package.

Raise your hand if you had a pen pal when you were younger!

This is a sweet story about two pen pals, a girl and boy who both present as Asian, who live on opposite sides of the country. When an unlucky mail truck drives over a pothole in the road, the girl’s package that she lovingly packed in Brooklyn gets lost on its way to its destination in San Francisco. Fate steps in when a boy, who is Black, discovers the package and hand delivers it to its recipient. In that moment, not only is the box united with its rightful owner, but the circle of friendship is expanded to include the boy who made it happen.

“Machines the tumble and separate,
scan and measure,
sort and route.”

My favorite part of this book are actually the pages that show the “behind the scenes” process of the postal system. Illustrator Jessica Lanan’s beautiful and expressive illustrations show the package being labeled, sorted, and routed. It was such a fun little peek behind the curtain to see how our complicated system works!