A Final Letter

It was Mr. Costas last day at work.
He was the only postman of a whole island.
Back in the days that there were no phones, no emails
and all the news traveled by foot.

Inside a small postal package we find the story of Mr. Costas, who retires as a postman after fifty years and invites us to know how his last day of work will be. The careful and surprising format creates the appropriate atmosphere to start reading this original book whose text, brief and full of poetry, makes a well-deserved tribute to the figure of the postman and the value of handwritten letters. The illustrations skillfully combine materials, changes in perspective and a luminous palette with a predominance of white, blue and ocher.

Key points

2018 – Selected in 33rd Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Fair, Madrid
2016 – 9th International Compostela Prize for Picture Books

• The moving story highlights virtues such as generosity, dedication and gratitude.
• The illustrator uses an original collage of images related to the postal trade (envelopes, stamps, handwritten words) to create characters and settings.
• The book comes inside a cardboard envelope with a ribbon tied around it, as if it were a letter or postal package.

Antonis Papatheodoulou

2020-2011 – Included six times in The White Ravens List
2015, 2012 – IBBY Greece, Picture Books Award
2012, 2011 – Greek State Picture Book Award

Iris Samartzi

2023-2012 – Five times awarded by IBBY Greece, Picture Books Award
2022, 2020 – Nominated to the H.C. Andersen Award
2021-2012 – Included three times in The White Ravens List
2021-2012 – Three times awarded with the Greek State Picture Book Award
2014 – IBBY Honour List