Send Bursts of Joy With Bookish Snail Mail
While I can’t pinpoint a specific moment in my life to explain why I love snail mail and stamps so much, I do know that Richard Scarry’s Postman Pig, a childhood neighbor who collected stamps, and the extreme level of excitement I felt as a kid when a magazine like Highlights arrived in my name are definitely part of it. And it’s a childhood joy that I never grew out of, because I still get excited when I spot an envelope personally addressed to me from someone I know amongst all the junk mail and bills.
As a person who equally loves sending snail mail to create a moment of unexpected joy for someone else, I was really excited to find some bookish postcards and greeting cards on Etsy. Now is an excellent time to send snail mail: not only are there great USPS stamps available (Betty White has a stamp!), but right now everyone can use a nice surprise in the mail that lets them know someone is thinking of them.
If you’re hesitant to send snail mail because you’re worried about what to write, don’t be! I picked a bunch of great bookish postcards that you can mail as is, or just write “Hi!”, or a movie quote, or a book quote, you can just add a sticker, or even a little doodle—any one of these is more than enough. It’s the beauty of a postcard! And for greeting card fans, I’ve got birthdays covered and even two options for animal lovers.
Bookish Animal Postcards set ($25 set; $3 each): I love each image and animal equally, and this is a perfect way to set yourself up with plenty of snail mail to send!
Book Lovers postcards ($9): Bookish scenery and bookish animals—it’s all the wins! If the previous set of ten was too overwhelming, this is a set of four, which is totally doable if you’re just starting out sending snail mail!
Be Gay Read Smut Postcard ($5): My first thought when I saw this was “has Casey McQuiston seen this?” because the characters in The Pairing would especially have been mailing this out as they toured Europe. Also, you can color it in!
Book Witches Postcard ($3): I love the artwork so much, and we need more witches in the world!
Book Stack Birthday Card ($6): For the bookish peeps in your life, have this birthday card ready to mail!
Bookish Bunnies Spring Greeting Card ($5): These bunnies need to invite me to their next book club/tea party!
Library Card Birthday Greeting ($7): Entire generations of library lovers would love this birthday card!
Squirrel Reading Greeting Card ($3): The bunnies should invite this squirrel to their book club!
Books Floral Return Address Labels ($7): Need return address labels? Make it bookish and pretty!
Read Banned Books postcards ($3): Mail these with actions to take against book banning: 56 Small Tasks to Be Proactive Against Book Censorship in 2025 and Beyond!
You might also be interested in The Best Bookish Stationery and (especially for that last postcard) Bookish Goods with a Social Justice Flair.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
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