SINCERELY, EMERSON

An inveterate young correspondent relates the true story of how a thank-you note to her postal carrier went viral.

Writing in third person, the preteen author introduces herself as a lover of silly jokes, Taylor Swift, and, particularly, hand-decorated missives. She produces them in such profusion that she writes a letter of appreciation to Doug, her letter carrier: “I make people happy with my letters, but you do too. You make it possible!” Shortly thereafter, she learns that Doug had shared her letter with his colleagues, because grateful responses from postal workers all over the country begin arriving by the boxload…each one “a connection,” she writes, with “a piece of someone’s life in it.” The unforeseen reaction prompts thoughts that many others, from farmers to trash collectors, are likewise out there working hard and with love. Inset views of workers of diverse occupations and races accompany these ruminations in Sinquett’s brightly hued watercolors. (Weber, her parents, and Doug all present White.) Elsewhere, the illustrator also tucks in calligraphic flourishes, colorfully ornamented envelopes, and handwritten letters with chatty or plaintive phrases. The author closes with a joke but just before that poses a question that serves nicely as a rhetorical kick in the pants: “Why was my saying thank you such a big deal?” Perhaps because there’s not quite enough of that going around? (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.)

An ode to the pleasures of real mail and the value of seeing and appreciating those who keep our society ticking.