Sunshine

by Jan Ormerod (Illustrator)

It's morning, and the first rays of sunlight shine into a little girl's bedroom, waking her up. She gets out of bed and matter-of-factly starts her day. This award-winning wordless picture book follows the girl as she goes about her morning routine and watches as her parents do the same. She eats cereal, climbs in bed with her parents who read the paper and drink coffee, brushes her teeth, gets dressed, and goes out the door ready for school. Preschool-age children will enjoy providing their own commentary and comparing their personal routine to hers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Classics, Family, Fiction, Australia, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1981

About the author

Jan Ormerod grew up in the small towns of Western Australia, with three older sisters, and as a child she drew constantly and compulsively. She went to art school and studied drawing, painting and sculpture. After completing her degree, Jan become an Associate of the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Design in Education, taught in secondary schools on enrichment programmes, and lectured in teacher’s college and art schools. Jan's first picture book, "Sunshine", won the Mother Goose Award in 1982 and was highly commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Her recent titles include "Ben Goes Swimming", "Emily Dances", "Who’s Who on Our Street?", " A Twist in the Tail" and "Ponko and the South Pole".
http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/authors...

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slice of 70s life picture book shows a young girl waking up bright and early and getting ready for school, her parents aren't quite so prepared but they all manage to make it out of the house with nothing worse happening than some burnt toast.

A lovely picture book with no text, great to look through alone or tell someone what is happening and make up your own stories, names and voices.

Read on open library.

[J. Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather sweet wordless picture book featuring a little girl's waking-up routine. Both DD(3) and DS(5) liked it.

I hope - but highly doubt - it inspires them to let me take a nap in the morning.

[Honey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it's no secret that I adore Jan Ormerod. Her illustrations are poignant, classic, subtle and at times hilarious. What I love about this wordless book is the relatable story line where a little girl is getting ready for the day and ends up "saving" the day by getting her family out the door on time. Ormerod's subtle use of color to convey emotion or even an impending disaster ("burning toast!) is unparalleled. Now, to be honest, I don't usually like books with only pictures. I feel pressure when I'm reading them with kids to get the story "right." But this book is an exception and one with a permanent place on our book shelves.

[Gail Chilianis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely picture book I shared with my 4 year old granddaughter..she was excited to see ' no words' and she went straight into telling her version of the story ..I'm pretty sure she would have given it 5 stars.! She also enjoyed listening to two other stories by Jan Ormerod ..Itsy Bitsy Babies and The Swap.

[B.P.]

Lovely early 80s illustrations - no text - story is about a young girl getting ready in the morning - waking up parents, preparing breakfast, getting dressed, going to toilet etc.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is told through pictures without text and tells a girl's morning routine. Suitable for young children.

[Nicole Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I picked up this book at the library with absolutely no words I thought how the heck am I going tackle this? But I was pleasantly surprised.
Sunshine by Jan Ormerod tells a simple story of the often complicated routine of a mother, father and young daughter waking up of a morning and getting ready to face the day. The beautiful and expressive detail of the illustrations make this rather simple tale quite an enthralling read. I know i is hard to fathom reading a wordless book but instead it forces you to take a moment or two and read the finer details of the individual pictures. The facial expressions, the clothes, the body language, the actions, the time of day and the belongings around the house . Preschoolers, who at this age are making so many observations in life generally will relish in being able to tell this story themselves as they see it. This narrative also explores simple independent tasks such as getting breakfast, brushing teeth, doing hair and getting dressed which children this age can relate to and compare with their own experiences.
So how did I verbally explore this book in my own words? I just observed as many things as possible in each frame pointing to them and asking my daughter what she thought. Before long she was joining in too ended up having this really fantastic conversational style story telling experience. For example "Who is that? It looks like a little girl. She asleep in her bed. Oh look, now she's rubbing her eyes and yawning, she must be waking up. The sunshine is coming through the window, that means its morning time. She has a bed just like yours." and so on. The wonderful thing is that there's no right or wrong in this and more often than not your fellow reader will end up telling the story for you.
This book was first published in 1981 so it has a lovely nostalgic quality to it but I believe its story is still as relevant today. Not much has changed about a morning routines with children despite the fashion and the hair! This story is so warm and enlightening in the most subtle of ways, I guess just like beam of sunshine.

[Sally Edsall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a first-rate book. Won the Children's book Council Children's Picture Book of the Year Award in 1982.

Ormerod's textless illustrations of a family's early morning activities is superb. The little girl,creeps into mum and dad's bed in the morning (the alarm closck tells us it is 7.20, kisses dad, and then helps him prepare breakfast (the toast burns as he reads the paper). They take breakfast into mum, still in bed. mum goes back to sleep, and dad gets lost in the paper. Our heroine gets herself dressed and toileted. It's now 8.25, and a rush ensues as Mum and dad leap out of bed to get going.
Absolutely delightful. Lots of fodder for children's imagination, and sequencing skills - some of the pics are in strip cartoon format.

There is a sequel, moonlight, about activities at the other end of the day, which is just as delightful.
A timeless classic; thoroughly recommended. It was a firm bedtime favourite in our house from about age 2 1/2 on.

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from the library with my toddler. I'd heard of Jan Ormerod but never ready any of their work, and this book was a reprint "Celebrating Forty Years."

It is a wordless picture book, told only in illustrations, and the plot is very simple: a little girl wakes up early, wakes up her father, they get breakfast, then take breakfast to her mum, she gets herself dressed, then lets her parents know the time, they rush to get ready, and everyone leaves home for the day.

The book was copyrighted 1981 but the setting is very reminiscent of the seventies - hair styles, clothes, colours. A snapshot of both a normal day in the life of a child and of a moment in history.

Foreword by Australian author-illustrator Freya Blackwood.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a wordless picture book which depicts a little girl waking earlier than her parents and going about her day. It shows her taking responsibility, for example cleaning her teeth and getting herself dressed. Each illustration is in a frame however there is usually one aspect that goes over the edge of the frame. The colours used are quite dull with some parts eg her red dressing gown brighter than the rest which draw the eye.

[Nitoy Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jan Ormerod brings her awesomeness in storytelling through illustrations here. She's the "queen of mundane-ness" of picture book. She brings out the greatness of ordinary life into something epic by just being simple. The sequential that spreads through one or two pages are delightful and charming to follow. Look at this sample:



I also love the funky look of the dad.LOL.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sunshine wakes us a little girl in the morning. She proceeds to wake up her dad, who makes her breakfast and then they take breakfast to mom, after which the parents fall back asleep. When the little girl is finished getting herself ready, all of a sudden everyone is late. I finished this book thinking, "What's the point?"

[Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has grown on me. A little girl gets up in the morning, wakes her parents, and they get ready to leave the house. All pictures (they're lovely).
I like the bit where Mama has breakfast brought to her in bed by Daddy and the little girl and then goes back to sleep whilst the other two read. S likes the bit where the little girl has a pee and brushes her teeth.

[Samantha Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great picture book that has the story line of a young girl and her morning routine with her parents. It is simple to follow with the pictures and could stimulate talk and discussions about what is happening in each scene with younger children.

[Walaa Alharbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My three year old loves this book! It has became part our morning ritual. Very beautiful illustrations.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wordless picture book depicts one family's morning as they wake up, make breakfast, get dressed, and nearly run late! Just a simple story showing time progression and cause and effect.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated wordless story of the morning routine. A classic to be treasured

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just gorgeous. Have fun with little ones as they describe themselves what’s happening in each slice of these morning rituals.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, wordless picture book. The art is gorgeous. Great for going over the concept of a morning routine.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book where the reader makes up the story.

[EmBee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a classic, the pictures have stayed with me since childhood.. love the aesthetic and the subtle humour and the sweetness..

[Ella Zig · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book has no text, thus only illustrations.

i found it to be so fascinating. my son and i made up our own story, what the reader should do,
but we also compared it to how we get ready in the morning. no, i did not use a venn diagram, tempted, but no.
we found the similarities and differences and had a blast doing it.

this is the story of a girl waking her parents up, eating breakfast and getting ready for the day.
the little bit of sunshine in the morning wakes her up, cue title.

i thought the illustrations were beautiful, intriguing, engrossing and unique.

highly recommend.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this little book of illustrations!
1. my dad always (since i was born) calls me sunshine.
2. the illustrations are so beautiful and simple.
3. the parents are so interestingly drawn, so real, so normal!

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wordless picture book deals with the commonplace, ordinary events of a morning. The pictures do convey a story, but it's pretty hard to tell an engaging story just in pictures, without words. This one didn't quite work for me.

[Kelly Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a wordless picture book. This book deals with the mathematics skill, addition. Just like in the book "Get up and Go!" we follow the character throughout the story to see how long it will take her to settle down.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An endearing wordless picture book that captures the joy of the everyday morning ritual of a loving family. A good family book to share with preschool children especially when the child is providing the narrative.

[Angela Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this as a kid. Such a long time ago, but I do recall that I liked it. :D

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

wordlessly, the illustrations capture the essence of an everyday morning at a little girl's house as she and her parents rise, eat, scurry about and dress, and get out the door.

[Turrean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely wordless picture book depicting a little girl getting ready for the day. Full of detail that will reward the observant reader.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites as a child