Ferdinand Cheval from Reycraft Books Reveals the Remarkable True Story of a Palace-Building Postman
The picture-book biography introduces young readers to real-life French postman Ferdinand Cheval, who spent 33 years working to make his dream a reality.
New Rochelle, NY, Oct. 1, 2022—Leading children’s trade publisher Reycraft Books has teamed up with author Anne Renaud and illustrator Ana Salopek to produce Ferdinand Cheval: The Postman Who Delivered a Palace. Published in hardcover on September 15, 2022, the picture-book biography tells the true story of Ferdinand Cheval, a mail carrier in 19th-century southern France who spent more than three decades creating one of the world’s most unique monuments—the ideal palace, or Palais Idéal.
Born in 1836, Cheval was apparently inspired to build the structure one day in 1879 when he was on his mail delivery route and tripped over a stone. Picking it up, Cheval was fascinated by its unusual shape. The next day he went back to the same spot and, much to his delight, found similar stones. Cheval decided he would use such stones to build the palace he had seen in his dreams—even though he had no architectural experience. From then on, as he did his postal rounds, Cheval would pick up stones he found along the way. Eventually he brought a wheelbarrow on his rounds to carry the stones he collected. Cheval went miles out of his way to look for stones, ignoring the people who laughed at him as they watched him wheel by with his findings. Beginning the project when he was 43, Cheval did not finish until 1912, working on it the whole time by himself. He died in 1924. The ideal palace has since been declared a historical monument in France.
More than 100 years later, Anne Renaud brings the fascinating story of Ferdinand Cheval to life for readers in Grades 2 to 5, with crisp, compelling text that conveys the postman’s unshakable determination to achieve the seemingly impossible. Renaud stumbled upon Cheval’s story by chance, while researching another one of her books. “I found Ferdinand Cheval to be particularly inspiring because it’s the story of how one man never gave up on his dream,” she said. “I hope this story will inspire children to pursue their dreams too.”
The book is beautifully enhanced by Ana Salopek’s innovative, strikingly colored artwork, which evokes the power of imagination and the will to achieve.
Ferdinand Cheval: The Postman Who Delivered a Palace has received critical acclaim. “Readers will be captivated by both the story and Renaud’s retelling, told in verse, which captures the whimsy and the drive of Cheval’s desire to leave a ‘reminder of my time here,’” Kirkus Reviews said in its review. It added, “Readers will come away stirred—and wondering how they, too, can leave their mark on the world.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anne Renaud is an award-winning children’s author who writes in both French and English. Her readers often ask her why she writes books. She tells them it is because she likes to do creative things and she finds writing to be a very creative exercise. It is also because she cannot dance well, sing well, juggle well, or do magic tricks, so she tries her best to write well.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:
Ana Salopek lives in Ogulin, Croatia. She is a proud mom of a five-year-old girl and occasionally borrows her daughter’s worldview on what truly matters in life. She creates and exhibits under her real name, Ana Salopek, as well as her pseudonym, gospodica ura, using digital techniques as they give her more freedom. Ana believes that during the night, her legs lengthen as a giraffe’s neck, allowing her to reach for the stars.
ABOUT REYCRAFT BOOKS: Reycraft Books partners with award-winning and up-and-coming authors and illustrators, primarily from underrepresented communities, to provide high-quality books that delight, inform, and honor the voice and vision of all children. Founded in 2019, the imprint publishes authentic stories—engaging picture books, chapter books, middle grade books, graphic novels, and more—that build knowledge, perspective, and connection, meeting the diverse needs of children, families, and educators.