Tortoise Brings the Mail

Abstract

A walk during a Buffalo meeting for Conversations Magazine took us past a neighborhood library that had a book sale, and this was a find there. Tortoise is the mailman and loves his job, but everyone thinks that he is too slow. Crow volunteers, and everyone wants him to be mailman, but Crow is sloppy and drops letters all over. After a fuss, Crow quits. Rabbit volunteers, and everyone wants her to be mailman. Rabbit runs so fast that she does not have time to read names. She puts the mail in the wrong mailboxes. Tortoise goes all over, redelivering the falsely delivered packages and letters. But soon Fox volunteers, and everyone wants Fox to be mailman. Fox sniffs every package first; when he smells a package he likes, he keeps it for himself. Tortoise happens to find all the saved up packages in Fox's house and delivers them himself, thinking that Fox has got behind in his work. Fox thinks that Tortoise has outsmarted him, and Fox packs his bags and leaves the forest forever. Finally, everyone wants Tortoise to bring the mail. He does so with delight! The flyleaf speaks in its first three sentences of Tortoise as steady and slow. I think that TH plays strongly in the background of this children's book.