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The Stamp Collector

Jennifer Lanthier,

François Thisdale (Illustrations)

4.31 · Rating details · 167 ratings · 57 reviews

A city boy finds a stamp that unlocks his imagination; a country boy is captivated by stories. When they grow up, the two boys take different paths – one becomes a prison guard, the other works in a factory – but their early childhood passions remain. When the country boy’s stories of hope land him in prison, the letters and stamps sent to him from faraway places intrigue ...more

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Hardcover, 32 pages

Published October 30th 2012 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside

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Lists with This Book

The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier

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Mar 29, 2013 Liz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2012-13

Beautiful to read...Beautiful to look at... Thoughtful prose and a "story of not long ago and not far away." The power of stories to bind us together, yet free us and promote social justice. Great to explore issues of government oppression and freedom of speech with older children. The pictures complement the text...both haunt me. A book worth reflecting and discussing! A 2013 NBGS book! (Notable Books for a Global Society)

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Oct 25, 2012 Tara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picture-books-for-older-kids, freedom-of-speech

You should read The Stamp Collector because you love language, because you need stories, because you believe in the power of writing to connect, to heal and to change. As a quiet reflection on the freedom of speech and government censorship, this is an achingly beautiful picture book with a rich lyrical voice. A poor city boy finds a single stamp and it opens up a world he had never before contemplated. A dreamy country boy loses himself in books and words, his imagination soaring far beyond the ...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Barbara rated it really liked it

Shelves: art, civil-rights, community, cultural-identity, death, families, friendship, heroes, international, social-activists

Stories can change lives, and this lovely book describes how an unlikely friendship develops between two men. A city boy falls in love with a beautiful stamp he finds on the street and dreams of other worlds. He becomes a prison guard in order to make a living. A country boy grows up telling stories and writing pieces that are critical of his government's regime, for which he is imprisoned. Eventually, the paths of the two cross briefly. Wow! After reading this brief but powerful book and readin ...more

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Jun 14, 2016 Chris rated it it was ok

Shelves: picture-books, other-culture

Rating this book a "2" meaning "it was okay." The Afterword was the best part. The premise was wonderful. But the story itself didn't grab me. It was poetically written and dramatically illustrated, but the meat and potatoes were hamburger and mashed. There was not enough detail, a little TOO much showing and not telling, if that's possible. The relationship between the prisoner and the guard was non-existent and then there. A story that children would love? For example? Perhaps if this book wer ...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Helaine Becker rated it it was amazing

This book will make you cry. In a good way. Find out the story behind the story, too, and you'll be shocked, amazed, and impressed beyond words. Raise money for PEN when you buy this book.

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Sep 27, 2012 Claudia Osmond rated it it was amazing

A beautiful and affecting story, full of hope and a future.

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Nov 21, 2012 Edward Sullivan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picture-books

A wonderful story about political oppression, freedom of expression, and the power of stories to change lives.

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Nov 16, 2012 Henna rated it it was amazing

Perhaps lately I'm really sensitive, but this story moved me very directly - a love for writing, stories, stamps and courage.

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Nov 24, 2018 Bailey Stehn rated it liked it

Stamp Collector follows two individuals separately, one who is a country boy and one a city boy. One grows up to be a prison guard while the other becomes a factory worker. The factory worker is arrested for speaking out against the government which is where he meets the prison guard. This book can be used to discuss how powerful governments can be damaging to societies. This can also teach people to follow what they believe in even if people of power push back on them.

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Mar 14, 2018 Jennifer Yanos rated it it was amazing

Amazing book! The illustrations are my favourite part! So full of symbolism and power! I love the imagery in this book. Can’t wait to share it with my students!

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Sep 12, 2018 Rebecca Gale rated it it was amazing

Really lovely book. A sensitive way to look at the realities of another country and culture (China).

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Sep 05, 2017 Ernie Hemingway rated it it was amazing

AMAZING. What a beautiful, well crafted masterpiece. Such a delightful surprise.

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Nov 16, 2017 Aisha Paaluhi rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s-books, realistic-fiction

The Stamp Collector is an interesting story based on real people. The story tells of two boys, one who loves stamps and another who loves words. As the two grow into men, they find work to support their families. The stamp collector becomes a prison guard, and the boy who loves words became a writer. Unfortunately, the man who wrote stories was thrown in prison because writing his stories were frowned upon. This is where the two men meet. The prison guard sees the joy that the writer has brought ...more

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Nov 18, 2013 Tanna rated it really liked it

Shelves: picture-books

The Stamp Collector is a story about oppression, expression, and the power of the written word told through the lives of two boys. It follows a city boy’s love for stamps and a country boy’s love for writing. It parallels the boys’ lives until they meet. Both discover their love at a young age and through their love of stamps and stories, escape to a world of dreams and adventure. As the boys grow older, they realize that these dreams and stories will not support them in real life. They are both The Stamp Collector is a story about oppression, expression, and the power of the written word told through the lives of two boys. It follows a city boy’s love for stamps and a country boy’s love for writing. It parallels the boys’ lives until they meet. Both discover their love at a young age and through their love of stamps and stories, escape to a world of dreams and adventure. As the boys grow older, they realize that these dreams and stories will not support them in real life. They are both surrounded by poverty and must step up to support their family. As soon as they are “old enough”, both leave school. The city boy becomes a prison guard and the country boy becomes a factory worker. Although they are forced into their new lives, the city boy keeps his stamps and the country boy continues to write.
The writer speaks out in his writings of hope about a land that is dying and of the children who step up and save it. Along with the hope it brings to those in his village, it also brings bear and anger to the “grey men”. The grey men run the village and take him away overnight. The writer is sent to the prison where the city boy now works. There are strict rules in this prison: they are not allowed to talk and the writer is not allowed to write or read.
Over the years, the guard is amazed by the amounts of mail pouring into the prison for the writer. He collects the stamps and admires their beauty and imagines all the places they have been. He finally decides to read the letters. The letters are in languages from around and tell of the hope, joy, and inspiration the writer’s story had brought to those young and old. The guard does not want to break the rules, so without words he brings the writer a stamp everyday and returns some of that hope to him.
The guard eventually brings him the letters, but the writer has slowly been deteriorating in the cold, hard cell. The guard does not think he is brave enough. He is hesitant about breaking the prison rules, but tells the writer to tell him one more story. The writer whispers through his illness one last story that captures the guard and “fills the guard’s soul until he wonders if he will burst”. The writer’s cough gets worse and the guard knows it is too late for him to be free. He sits with the writer, his new friend, until his last days without speaking. He simply holds his hand as the prison doctor watches.
The guard is still unsure about his own bravery, but makes the journey to the beautiful library his grandfather had once told him about. He is now safe and free, and begins to write. He writes the beginning of the story readers are currently reading. This brings the book back full circle and makes the oppression, power of language, and unlikely friendship that much more real. The pictures in this book also mirror the story perfectly, they are dark and gloomy except for the light that surrounds the words. This book is not your typical feel-good picture book, instead it highlights the real world oppression people face are currently and constantly facing, and the bravery of those willing to speak out against it.
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Oct 26, 2015 Christine rated it liked it

The Stamp Collector tells the story of two parallel lives. The first is a little by who grew up in a city near a prison. He loves stamps and lets his imagination run wild with the possibilities of the world. Eventually as the boy gets older he has to take a job as a prison guard at the near by prison. There is a second boy who grew up in the countryside who loves words. He reads everything in sight and then begins writing himself. His stories touch people but the authority figures do not like th The Stamp Collector tells the story of two parallel lives. The first is a little by who grew up in a city near a prison. He loves stamps and lets his imagination run wild with the possibilities of the world. Eventually as the boy gets older he has to take a job as a prison guard at the near by prison. There is a second boy who grew up in the countryside who loves words. He reads everything in sight and then begins writing himself. His stories touch people but the authority figures do not like this and they lock him up in the prison. His stories ended up touching many people from many far away places and they write to him in prison. The boy who grew up to be the prison guard sees these letters and collects their stamps. As time passes he begins to give the stamps to the writer as a sign of hope and compassion. Soon he is giving the writer the letters as well, but it is too late and the writer is dying. The letters beg for one more story and so the writer tells the story to the prison guard so he can sneak it out of the prison and get it to the people. The story that the writer told the prison guard is the story of two boys, one who loved stamps and one who love words.

This is a critically acclaimed picture book and it is not hard to see why. The story feels like a fable or a legend that has been passed down from generation to generation. The language and flow is very poetic making it a fantastic book to read aloud. The conclusion of the book is the best part; the cyclical and continuing nature of the ending makes the story even more important. This is also what helps create the felling that you are reading a story that has survived from generation to generation. There is a clear message and moral but it is not heavy handed. The elements of championing free speech and other freedoms that we appreciate in the developed world but not everyone in the world does. The story is beautiful but might not be a child’s go to favourite story, it may be a picture book that adults appreciate more than children.

The illustrations are just as beautiful as the words. They compliment the story to a tee. The duality of the story is very much represented in the illustrations. It sets the ominous and overbearing tone of the prison through out the story. The different mediums used in the illustrations also add to the eclectic feel and the influences from all the far off places, the letters and stamps come from. The illustrations contribute so much to the tone and feel of the story.
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Nov 26, 2013 Juliette rated it really liked it

Shelves: infm208

This is a tale of two boys; one from the city who loves stamps and the other from the country who loves to read and write stories. Both boys come from impoverished families. The city boy, who loves stamps, imagines a world around his beloved stamp, and eventually grows up to work as prison guard. The country boy grows up to work in a factory, and writes about his dying land. Although his stories bring joy and hope to the villagers, they bring fear to others and he is eventually taken away to pri This is a tale of two boys; one from the city who loves stamps and the other from the country who loves to read and write stories. Both boys come from impoverished families. The city boy, who loves stamps, imagines a world around his beloved stamp, and eventually grows up to work as prison guard. The country boy grows up to work in a factory, and writes about his dying land. Although his stories bring joy and hope to the villagers, they bring fear to others and he is eventually taken away to prison. It is in prison that the two men meet and it is here that a forbidden bond is formed between guard and prisoner.
“At first the writer and the guard do not speak. They must not break the rules. But the next day the guard brings another stamp. Then another. The writer smiles. Every stamp tells a story without words. The writer knows he is not alone now. Not forgotten.”
The prisoner receives letter from all over the world, but he is not allowed to view them. The guard still interested in stamps, notices the variety of stamps on these letters and eventually reads them and starts to deliver them in secret to the prisoner. The prisoner, ill from the years spent in prison, shares his stories with the guard who in turn promises to share them with others.
“The road is long and lonely, and the guard is hungry and tired by journey’s end. But the library is warm and safe and full of people who love words and stories. The guard takes a small, emerald-green stamp from his pocket. He hesitates. Then he writes”
The author has done an excellent job conveying a very dark and political story about the freedom of expression to children. The illustrations, like the story, are dark, but retain a bit of whimsy such as the flow of colourful stamps on the page as the guard reads the letters. At the back of the book, the author gives more details on the inspiration for the story in her “Freedom to Write, Freedom to Read”, this is a great addition to the book and could lead to further discussions with the target audience about the topic of censorship, especially since the first sentence that the prison guard begins to write is the beginning sentence of “The Stamp Collector”.
“The Stamp Collector” is a 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Honor Book, 2013 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award nominee, and OLA 2012 Best Bet - Picture Books category.
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Sep 21, 2016 Cat rated it it was amazing

My father was a stamp collector, so when I saw this book, I had to stop and read it. amazing tale. I loved the story of who the two boys grew up and the paths their lives took. Illustrations are muted , but lovely. Older kids and adults will get the most out of this story.

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Dec 03, 2014 Adrianna Wesley added it

Shelves: teaching-and-learning-307-fall-14

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: 8+ years old
Summary: This is a book about an inmate in jail and his relationship with a guard. The inmate was arrested because of the political poems he would write. There poems were considered dangerous and illegal. The inmate he receives letter after letter of support from all over the world for what he did before he was arrested. The inmate was not allowed to the letters, but the guard was able to and he began to read them. After reading them he decides to go ah Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: 8+ years old
Summary: This is a book about an inmate in jail and his relationship with a guard. The inmate was arrested because of the political poems he would write. There poems were considered dangerous and illegal. The inmate he receives letter after letter of support from all over the world for what he did before he was arrested. The inmate was not allowed to the letters, but the guard was able to and he began to read them. After reading them he decides to go ahead and give the inmate his letters. They begin to form a friendship that show's the inmate that he is not alone, especially as he begins to get sick and eventually dies.
Comments:
This is a powerful book on compassion. Guards and inmates are not typically friends, but this book shows that compassion is universal.
Observations:
The compassion the guard shows for the inmate is very relevant to the story and this is shown to the other through the guard giving the inmate the letters that were written to him.
Questions:
How might the treatment of the inmate have been different if his crime was more violent or controversial? Would the guard have given him the letters?
Use in Classroom:
This book would be a good resource for teaching about the power of writing. This book could launch a lesson on poetry and the class could have a poetry slam after all the students write their own poetry.
Theme:
The theme of this book is that compassion is universal. The guard showed a great deal of compassion and sympathy for the inmate by giving him his letters. One should not judge a book by its cover because what is underneath is more important and people can surprise you.
Criticism:
I wish this book went into even more detail about the inmate's poetry before he got arrested. I was so happy when the guard finally gave him the letters after the guard had read them all.
Format: Picture book
Socioeconomic Status:
Race/Ethnicity: N\A
Gender: N\A
Citation: Lanthier, J., & Thisdale, F. (2012). The stamp collector. Markham, Ont.: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. ...more

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Apr 11, 2014 Corrina rated it it was amazing

Read my full review at wadingthroughbooks.wordpress.com!

This is a lovely and evocative story. The writer and the guard have very specific roles, and the guard is afraid of getting in trouble like the writer, but he takes pity on someone who is alone and didn’t do anything bad to deserve being put in prison. The guard collects stamps because they are beautiful. He takes the stamps from the letters to the writer because they are lovely, but he sees that the writer needs to know that he is not alon ...more

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Dec 08, 2014 Leah Jackman rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-readers-chapter-books

This is a story about a writer and a prison guard who secretly have a stamp letter system going on so the prisoner can have stories and communication. It’s a story about writing and passing on stories that excite ones self enough to get them through anything, even prison. This becomes a story about how prisoners all start to write stories and end up being able to pass letters to family members. And it all started with one stamp that told a whole story. If one stamp can tell a story then why not ...more

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Apr 15, 2014 Jessica Moden rated it it was amazing

Shelves: children-books, picture-books, t-l-307-spr-2014

Reading Level: 3rd Grade
This book emphasizes the idea that freedom of speech is not accepted in every country and in many there are harsh punishments for simply writing things even if they are not intended to be published. This book features two main characters, the country boy and the guard of the prison. The country boy finds a stamp and sees the true value of the stories and travels that individual stamp holds, which leads him to write stories. The wonderful story the country boy writes gets ...more

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Jan 08, 2016 Diane Warrington rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picture-graphic-novel

This is a picture book about human rights violations in present day China. It has won numerous awards. It is inspired by two writers: Nurmuhemmet Yasin and Jiang Weiping. Weiping spent 6 years in prison for exposing govt. corruption. Yasin is serving 10 yrs for writing a short story called "The Wild Pigeon". These trials are often secret and the punishments are harsh. PEN International set up a committee in 1960, to help imprisoned writers. Weiping now lives in Toronto, thanks to them.

The story ...more

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Apr 23, 2014 Melody Wolen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: children-s-picture-book, multicultural-literature, teaching-and-learning-307-section-2

Reading Level: 3rd grade
This book emphasizes the idea that freedom of speech is not accepted in every country and in many; there are harsh punishments for simply writing things even if they are not intended to be published. This book features two main characters, the country boy and the guard of the prison. The country boy finds a stamp, sees the true value of the stories, and travels that individual stamp holds, which leads him to write stories. The wonderful story the country boy writes gets a ...more

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Dec 08, 2014 Jasmine rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-literacy-307

This story follows the lives of two young boys who grow into men and the different lives they choose to live. Where one man becomes a prisoner and the other becomes the guard, this book highlights the confined lifestyle that both men were living, even if they didn’t even know it. The author did a great job at really making this picture book empowering and personal with a deep message of breaking free. The illustrations were incredibly orchestrated and they complimented the story flawlessly. The ...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Courtney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1900s, at-work, auto-biographical-memoirs, children-s-literature, china, friendship, picture-books, rebellions-and-revolutions, realistic-fiction

Somewhat (auto)biographical.

The story is based upon two different authors who were imprisoned by the Chinese Communist government for writing stories the government didn't approve of.

Two boys grow up in China. One develops a love of stamps, and starts a collection of them. As he grows, he feels the need to be responsible and provide for his family, so he takes a job as a prison guard.
The other boy loves words, and grows up to become an author. He writes a story that is dislike by the governmen ...more

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Dec 12, 2014 Steve rated it liked it

Shelves: children-s-literature-307

Genre: Picture Book / Historical Fiction

The Stamp Collector is a truly magnificent story about two very different men that become friends from events that cause one of them to become incarcerated in a prison. One of the men is a prisoner and the other is a guard. The prisoner was placed in prison where he would eventually die because he was using text and speech to talk against the government. In a classroom, I would use this story to demonstrate to my students that you need language in your li ...more

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Apr 23, 2014 Jacquelyn Hoogendyk rated it it was amazing

Shelves: thought-provoking, tl-307-spring-2014

The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier is a story about an unlikely friendship that develops, between a city boy who falls in love with collecting stamps that take his imagination to other worlds and a country boy who falls in love with words and the power of stories. The city boy grows up to be a prison guard to make ends meet. The country boy grows up to be a writer. His stories, which are critical of his government’s regime, put him in jail for life. It is in this unlikely place that the tw ...more

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Apr 26, 2014 Sophie Gray added it

Shelves: multicultural

This book portrays the meaning of friendship very powerfully. As the guard and the writer who is the prisoner in this book create a bond that is unexplainable, the passion for each other grows through each character which is very clear to the audience. The story of the two men was spread out through a long period, giving the story a much more meaningful background that was difficult to predict. This was a book that was hard to put down, as you always wanted to know what was going to happen next ...more

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Apr 29, 2014 Brenna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: tch-lrn-307, picture-books, historical-nonfiction

An unlikely friendship develops, between a city boy who falls in love with collecting stamps that take his imagination to other worlds and a country boy who falls in love with words and the power of stories. The city boy grows up to be a prison guard to make ends meet. The country boy grows up to be a writer. His stories, which are critical of his government’s regime, put him in jail for life. It is in this unlikely place that the two men meet and form a friendship. Both men filled with fear of ...more

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Apr 25, 2014 Melissa Morton rated it really liked it

Shelves: tl307-spring2014

The Stamp Collector is about two boys, one who loves stamps and one who loves stories, who meet and form a friendship under unlikely circumstances. The boy who loves stamps is from the city and grows up to become a prison guard. The boy who loves stories grows up to be a writer, but is put in jail for his work. The two men meet in the prison and begin their friendship...

This is a simple story with a strong message. This book captivated my attention and fell in love with it. The simple story line ...more

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