Penguin Random House
9780143785187
September 3, 2018
Imprint: Viking
RRP: $22.99
Like all small children Mabel and Robert love to collect things on their walks (ahh yes, the days when I had to take snap lock bags with me for Small’s treasures) and they pick up all kinds of marvellous finds: beautiful stones, interesting sticks, seeds and berries (ours were often feathers!).
Mabel and Robert take a paper bag for their collecting but alas! when the rain comes pouring down the bag is a disaster and the collection is lost.
Undeterred, the pair determines to keep on collecting and so they find such delights as a bird song, a dog smell, the taste of a fence and the touch of a wall. When they get home their collection is transferred to drawings and paintings which will continue to give them pleasure. The double page spreads and the divine end papers are a perfect foil for this gentle story and its themes.
This is not only a gorgeous insight into imagination and the magical world of little ones but a gentle reminder to all of us that is not ‘things’ that give us the greatest pleasures, rather the experiences and the memories we make.
Highly recommended for little ones from around Prep up.
Download an activity pack here.
Just So Stories 
Thanks for the lovely review, Sue.
Collecting Sunshine is based on my quiet walks around the neighbourhood with my little grandchildren, collecting feathers, stones, sticks, seeds, leaves, flowers, smells, wet shoes and mud.
To go back a generation my own children did the same. There was always a collection of sticks outside the back door.
Rachel
Thanks for the kind words Rachel – yes indeed so many memories of gathering feathers, rocks, shells and more especially with my special girl x