Chanelle Gosper (text) and Jennifer Goldsmith (illustrator), Little Treasure, Lothian Children’s Books, March 2023, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780734421494
This quiet picture book featuring a mother and her daughter, is all about connection and appreciation of each other. Little Treasure is one to enjoy curled up together, perhaps before bedtime, as it has somewhat of a lullaby vibe.
Told from the mother’s point of view, readers join the shore-bound duo on a day of imagination and creation. Like many children around Australia, this sweet youngster collects precious beach treasures, a shell, seaweed, and sea glass. As they wash the sand off, these treasures reveal themselves as mermaid’s jewels. Next, mother and child, spot a ship out on the water, and again their imaginations engage and they see that it is full of treasure and adventurous sailors. Then the sand dunes are explored as a place of possibilities and hidden treasures.
I don’t think there is one straight line anywhere in any of the images in the book. The illustrations have a fluidity that capture the shifting nature of the beach setting and the make-believe scenes from the characters’ imaginations.
Towards the end of the book, we begin to grasp the dual meaning of the title, Little Treasure. For while the child is lost in her world of seaside treasures, the mother is treasuring the experience of being with her innocent, inquisitive daughter.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell
