Meet Flekk, an adorable envelop on a journey of a lifetime. Flekk is in Lillehammer, Norway and gives an account of mail and the process it goes through on his way to his destination. Along the way, Flekk meets Mel an envelope friend who encourages him when he needs it most. This book has a great message to it that is revealed at the end. Inside Flekk, is an encouraging message from Jesus. Aurelie Lien, included questions at the end to engage the reader or a children's book club in a lively discussion.

This book had a sweet message with heavy religious undertones. The idea of a letter being mailed internationally is interesting and captivating for many children, and this book does a great job of not only illustrating the postal process but also explaining it. I did find that it didn't flow as naturally as I would have expected but overall, it was a sweet story with a theme of differences and acceptance.

This was a cute book. It describes how mail travels and all the things that could happen on a long journey. The pictures were clear and colorful.

The Stained Envelope is a tale of resilience and friendship that drew me from start to finish. Through the journey of Flekk, a plain envelope with big dreams, readers are taken on a rollercoaster of emotions as he navigates challenges and setbacks on his mission to deliver a letter. Despite facing moments of fear and disappointment, Flekk's determination shines through, reminding us all of the power of perseverance. I found myself rooting for Flekk every step of the way, and the satisfying conclusion left me with a renewed sense of hope and optimism.

A book of two halves with a beautiful message. The first half is the scary story of a shy envelope starting out pristine and getting a bit battered and bruised as he travelled across the sea, through a sorting office and eventually to the little boy he was being sent to.
The second half is more overtly educational and spiritual. Jesus is the message of hope, comfort and good news and the book ends with a suitable prayer. There are facts about the postal system and a teaser about Norway where the envelope is sent from.
A real shift in tone in the book, both are cute and my youngest enjoyed both.

Get ready to join Flekk on the wildest adventure of a lifetime in The Stained Envelope! This isn't your average bedtime story – it's a whirlwind of excitement, friendship, and unexpected twists that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Flekk may just be a little envelope, but let me tell you, he's got the heart of a lion and the spirit of a true adventurer! With every page turn, you'll find yourself cheering him on, laughing at his antics, and maybe even shedding a tear or two. So if you're looking for a children's book that's as lively as it is charming, grab a copy of The Stained Envelope and get ready for the ride of your life!

This is a beautiful story about the journey of an envelope that also has a deeper meaning about the purpose of life. We are a religious family, so I love the metaphor made about the letter. This story takes a bigger idea and relates it to something that children can better understand. It also manages to include information about the postal system and some Norwegian trivia that children will find interesting. I really enjoyed reading this book and plan on reading it to my children.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for letting me read this story!

Thank you NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Stained Envelope is a well written and beautifully illustrated children’s story that follows, you guessed it, a stained envelope. But the envelope was not always stained, and its journey from point A to point B is a great metaphor for the trials and uncertainty of life. This is a story I can read to my daughter without it coming off as talking down to her or lacking a concrete message (which I have noticed a lot of in children’s books nowadays). We’re not religious, so I would omit the religious parts of the book, but it doesn’t overpower the story or the pages of the book.

I feel like <i>The Stained Envelope</i> had good intentions, but never really lived up to any of them. This probably could have been a pretty wonderful children’s book if the writing was handled well and if the message was better implemented.

The most glaring problem that this book suffers from in the first place is that it does not have a clear age for its audience. I’ve found this can be the case with a lot of children’s books, unfortunately, but this one suffers from this more than most. The amount of language used, notwithstanding the utter lack of attention to children’s vocabulary levels and especially their attentiveness really hurts this book in that regard.

The children who might want to read this book are too young for the language and the ones who are old enough for the language would most likely want nothing to do with the book.

I have personal reasons to disagree with the message in this book in that I am extremely against pushing religion at children, however, in simply evaluating the goals of this book I can’t help feeling that an envelope is a very poor metaphor.

The mail system generally does not treat mail well, as evidenced by the very events of the book. Pushing this idea that we’re supposed to be dinged up and misused because that’s “god’s plan” for us as we stumble about uncertain of our purpose is concerning enough for me, but the additive of classism with all those bits of mail and package that people paid more for made me feel super icky. And these ideas are all reinforced by the discussion questions at the end.

Additionally, simply thinking about how we as people treat packaging completely destroys my ability to engage with this metaphor in good faith to children. When we get letters, we rip open those envelopes—it’s even mentioned in the book that the kid rips open this envelope’s flap!—and then we throw them away. There’s a reason envelopes get dinged up along their journey to deliver mail and it’s not to build character, it’s because the mail system doesn’t really care about the envelope or package.

It’s not that I think we can’t have a fun story about an envelope’s journey through the mail system—but to compare children and their growth into adulthood to an envelope that is treated poorly because its purpose in life doesn’t lead anyone to actually care about it but it still has an important “role” that has meaning solely because it helps someone is…awful.

It feels more like a metaphor for letting the world hurt you for no reason and justifying that dismal treatment because you were kind instead of recognizing and calling out that you don’t deserve to be treated poorly. It feels like we’re telling kids that life will always be painful to them and they just need to accept it forever, as though we can’t have good people who are kind and helpful to others, but also have boundaries for how they’re treated.

Truthfully, I decided to read this book because I thought the cover was cute and that the story would exist as an opportunity for kids to learn about how the mail works. I did not think it was going to be a propaganda piece for religion. And it’s even further concerning to me that the book’s summary did not warn me at all about this fact and I really hate having religious ideas thrown at me out of nowhere.

It’s super disingenuous to not be clear about what this book’s goals are in its summary. And I would not have chosen to read this book had I known in advance what it truly was.

So, what could have been a fun and informative book (ideally with language and content that would match a specific age range) about a piece of mail’s journey through the world ends up not having an educational goal at all, but rather one of pushing a specific religion. And that’s fine. I don’t have to read the book. But my goodness, it’s disappointing that the marketing isn’t honest about it.

Ultimately, content, audience consideration, and language wise, I was pretty disappointed with this book. The artwork, however, I’ll say was wonderful. I really enjoyed the way everything was drawn and colored and the envelope’s design was absolutely adorable, with the receiver’s address existing as a sort of quasi mustache. It was sincerely clever touch and I have nothing but praise for the work put in by the illustrator.

<i>I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I loved the character of the stained letter. There is so much that can be done with this on a lower level but I saw value in using this with my upper elementary students as well and some more mature lessons/themes.

The Stained Envelope by Aurelie Lien

Beautifully written story about an exciting of an envelope. The envelope has a big mission to carry a message to another end of the world.

The young readers have a chance to follow the adventure of the envelope, who called Flekk. I love the how exciting Flekk feels, how he makes friend and how happy he is to arrive to his destination.

The illustration is lovely, especially the big eyes of Flekk has!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for my copy.

Pub date: Dec 22, 2024

This is a sweet story about a letter that travels far to reach the person who really needs it. Along the way, the envelope gets tattered and stained, but the message it contains remains as important as ever.

I really liked the illustrations and the story, up to the point where it is revealed who the sender is.

This will be a good book for christian children to read, and Flekk is a very cute character.

I didn't realise this was a Christian book before the end and I didn't expect who send the letter. Its a sweet book that belongs in a school or church library for Christian readers. I like the message it sends - that we all have a purpose (but not the letter from Jesus etc), the images are great, I love the introduction of Norwegian but the religious side is to much for me.

I would not purchase this book for my children or the ones I work with. I don't like that it's not advertised as a religious book.

This book could give a child a feeling of love and hope.. you won’t realize it until the end but this is a good Christian story that affirms that Jesus will never forsake you or leave you. You will never be alone. It is also a reminder that it is what you are on the inside that matters, not how you appear from the outside. It also is a cute book about an envelope that finds his purpose in life. I received a complimentary copy of the e-book from NetGalley and the publisher. This review is my own.
I also loved the pictures. I recommend this book for grades K-3.

I like the point this cute picture book was making that we can fulfill our purpose even if we go through a lot and seem damaged. It was also fun to see the process of a letter coming from Norway and learning a few words in Norwegian.
The kid who got the letter got a nice message, too, because he was feeling anxious after moving to a new place.
There are questions at the end for discussion and the book is Christian.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I enjoyed this read for a couple of reasons:
1. I liked that it showed all the steps of a letter from one country to another, and how the envelope felt during each step along the way. It very much reflected moving and how it all matched up at the end.
2. I liked that you learned Norwegian words a little bit throughout the story.
3. I loved the questions at the end of the book and wish that more books did this.
4. It is a religious book, but that doesn't come across right away.