February brings the annual delivery of a Valentine’s Day care package to our home. When my daughters slit the side of the bubble pouch, sent via USPS by my parents, love comes tumbling out…
Red cards!
Chocolate bars!
Pink stickers!
Holiday scarves!
Smiles, then jumps. Jumps, then squeals. Just like that, the day is brighter. We’re in the midst of a kitchen renovation, and this bouncy heart headband definitely added a ring-a-ding-ding to our basement Valentine’s Day dinner…
But what happens when a package gets lost? What becomes of the care and heart tucked within? New picture book THE LOST PACKAGE, by Richard Ho, illustrated by Jessica Lanan (Roaring Brook Press, coming March 2, 2021), explores exactly that. Here’s the stunner of a cover…
THE LOST PACKAGE is a beautiful, tender, informative story about a package that takes an unexpected route. The story begins with a simple box, as all packages do, but soon it’s much more. In her bright peachy room, a young girl fills the cardboard container with special things, closes it up securely, and sends it on its way.
The package arrives at the post office and is immediately swept into the delivery system. Gorgeously detailed watercolored compositions reveal the inner workings of the rooms and machines that ensure each package is directed to the correct zip code and door.
The girl’s package is well on its way when the unexpected happens. The mail truck hits a pot hole, sending the box flying - out of the truck and into the wet street. It lands in a puddle. Lost.
Will the package be found? Will it ever make it across the country, to its final destination? Light and hope glow upon the silvery streetscape, revealing a chance encounter with the potential to set things right. In prose warm and clear, author Richard Ho tells a sparsely written yet broad, sweeping tale about taking a chance and bringing things home. What inspired this heartfelt story? I had a chat with the author to find out! Here’s my Author Spotlight with Richard Ho:
3 Questions with Richard Ho
In your author’s note, readers learn that your father worked as a clerk for the US Postal Service for more than 30 years. How did growing up around the stories of mail and special deliveries inform the journey of the package in this story?
Research is vital when writing about a complex topic like the mail system. But I feel like I cheated a bit with this story, given that my “research” was chatting with my dad! Growing up, I was always curious about the mail, and my father’s role in it. He loved to explain all the intricacies of the process, from how to calculate the correct postage for sending a package to the difference between first class and priority mail. Plus, it was so convenient to just hand him letters on his way to work—I never had to use a mailbox or go to the post office myself! So when I was writing the story, I asked my father to read several drafts, and he fact-checked the technical details.
But more than anything, my father instilled in me a tremendous respect for the USPS as an institution. It has a real nobility of purpose: connecting people across the country, allowing friends and family to maintain personal bonds even over great distances. And I saw that nobility every day, because my father embodied it with his diligence and sense of duty. I wanted to imbue this story with that same nobility. Even though the package gets lost and falls out of the hands of the mail system, it eventually reaches its destination because the people who find it also share that belief in the power of personal connections.
While we’re on the topic of journeys, tell us about your path to picture books! How long has writing been part of your life, and when did writing for children become an area of focus for you?
I’d like to say that my writing journey started from the time I could string two words together. But the truth is, I was a late bloomer! I’d always enjoyed writing as a child, but I never considered it as a career until college. And even then, my initial interest was in journalism. Post-college, I started dabbling in creative writing, and my passion for storytelling grew. And after our oldest son was born, I was reintroduced to the wonderful world of children’s books.
Reading these books from an adult perspective was truly eye-opening. I was able to see the craft and appreciate the structure and wordplay to a degree I never appreciated as a child. Even then, the thought of writing them myself didn’t occur to me—until a conversation with a co-worker who happened to be a children’s book illustrator. She had seen some pictures of our pet hedgehog (Henry, we miss you!), and she suggested I write a story about him. So I did. That manuscript was the first of many to come, and officially marked the start of my kidlit journey!
Handwritten letters and care packages are such precious gifts of time, energy, creativity and love – kind of like picture books! What special elements do you like to tuck into your stories, for readers to discover?
For each of my books, the story as a whole is a love letter to a topic that’s close to my heart. Whether it’s mail (THE LOST PACKAGE), space exploration (RED ROVER: CURIOSITY ON MARS), or the Chinese fables I grew up with (YEAR OF THE CAT), the story ends up being a vessel for storing the things I love about that topic. So I try to cram in as many fascinating details as possible! For example, there’s a five-mile system of purple conveyor belts called “Barney” in the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center, the largest mail sorting plant in New York City. The Morgan plant is depicted in THE LOST PACKAGE, and even though Barney wasn’t central to our story, illustrator Jessica Lanan was able to sneak a glimpse of it into the background!
Of course, so many of the delightful discoveries in picture books are courtesy of the illustrators. And as the author, I can’t claim credit for them! In THE LOST PACKAGE, there’s a whimsical rabbit lamp in the girl’s bedroom that Jessica based on a real lamp from editor Emily Feinberg’s office. And all the children in the story are modeled after Jessica’s adorable neighbors!
What great fun- thank you for the wonderful interview, Richard!
Richard Ho is the author of THE LOST PACKAGE, illustrated by Jessica Lanan, and RED ROVER: CURIOSITY ON MARS, illustrated by Katherine Roy (both published by Roaring Brook Press). His third book, YEAR OF THE CAT, illustrated by Jocelyn Li Langrand (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins), publishes in Fall 2022. Visit Richard’s website at www.richardhobooks.com, and be sure to follow him on Twitter at @richkarho.
THE LOST PACKAGE publishes March 2, 2021. It is available for pre-order now through your favorite indie bookstore.
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GOOD LUCK!