"With an economy of line and colour, she captures and shares an intimate and familiar morning routine, complete with early morning light you can almost feel and the burning of toast you can almost smell. Jan portrays the essence and comedy of situations and characters with elegant simplicity." Freya Blackwood Foreword to the 2022 reprint of Sunshine.
"Sunshine is a masterpiece of design and pacing. ... Then at the hilarious pivotal moment, the regular layout is tosses aside, parents rush about readying themselves while the child looks out at the reader with an acknowledging smile." Freya Blackwood Foreword to the 2022 reprint of Sunshine.
In 1982 Sunshine won the Australian Children's Picture Book of the Year award. I was not working in a school library, that didn't happen until 1985, but I was studying librarianship and my passion for children's books had begun. Sunshine was one of the very first picture books I purchased for myself - not for a child, not for a gift, not for a library - just for me! 1982 is over forty years ago, but I think Sunshine was probably the first wordless book I had ever seen or read. Recently I spied this new copy and so, as a celebration of my own two years as a CBCA Picture book judge I decided to purchase this book all over again. Sunshine is still my most favourite wordless or textless or as we call them in IBBY, silent book. When I put on layers of clothes in winter I often think of the little girl putting on her vest, rights, skivvy, pinafore, and shoes. I also love the special moment when dad bends down and touches her nose with his nose before he rushes out the door. And what a pity she has to leave her orange-haired rag doll at home when she heads out the door with mum.
In 2022 Sunshine turned 40 and Harper Collins printed an anniversary edition. It is a slightly larger format (thank you) and every page is just as vibrant as the the original. Here is a video/audio presentation which explores one series of illustrations in detail.
Jan Ormerod (1946-2013) produced some very special picture books both as an author/illustrator and as an author with different illustrators such as Freya Blackwood who provided the Foreword to this new edition. Freya herself illustrated a wonderful wordless book in 2021 - The Boy and the Elephant.
Here are some other books by Jan Ormerod - many of these are sure to be in your local or school library. The sequel to Sunshine, Moonlight was also reprinted in 2022.
I have mentioned Sunshine in several past posts here on my blog - take a look:
- Children's Book Council of Australia awards in the 1980s
- The Boy and the Elephant by Freya Blackwood
- An insight into Silent Books IBBY Australia event
- Little Mouse gets ready by Jeff Smith
I was a little surprised to see these three different covers and titles for The Swap illustrated by Andrew Joyner:
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