About the Picture Book

When Conny (you can see her above as she is today), co-author of the book Sunshine Dolls, was asked to stand in as a Kindergarten teacher at a Waldorf School in 1987, she didn’t hesitate for a moment. She had already made a Cuddly Doll, and all it needed was a jumper. She knitted it that very evening.

This is her story:

The first time I was asked to stand in as a substitute teacher in a Kindergarten class came rather unexpectedly. I had only just finished the doll I’d made especially for this purpose. That evening, I worked until late to make a lining for the little wicker basket I had bought at a market, so I could take the doll to school with me in case I had to stand in.

I had very little time to prepare my introduction of the doll to the class, and in hindsight, that was just as well. I already had a name for the doll: Little Sunshine.

I placed the basket with Little Sunshine ‘asleep’ inside it underneath my chair while the classroom was still empty.

The children were rather shy when they entered the classroom and took their places in the circle to start the day. Evidently, someone strange was sitting in their teacher’s chair. They’d all seen me before, but even so.

Once all the parents had said goodbye and the children and I were alone together, I decided Little Sunshine should wake up. I picked up the basket, placed it on my lap, lifted the lid very carefully and began to speak softly to him. 'Wake up Little Sunshine, look where you are, you won’t believe your eyes! Don't be afraid, I’m here with you’.

Some of the children stood up to get a better look at what was happening inside the opened basket. I asked them if anyone would like to tickle Little Sunshine's hair carefully to wake him up. And sure enough, a little boy sitting next to me – who’d already caught a glimpse of Little Sunshine inside his basket – stood up and very carefully ran his fingers through Little Sunshine's yellow woollen hair. Little Sunshine slowly emerged from beneath the blanket, but he was still a bit shy of so many new faces, so I let him snuggle up to me. The childrens’ faces lit up, and when I told Little Sunshine he really need not be afraid of the children, they shook their heads in agreement.

Very carefully, I turned the doll around and let him look at the children one by one. At first, I let him sunggle back shyly against my shoulder a few times, but soon he dared to look at the children for longer and longer. Finally, I waved his little arm at one of the children, and then the ice was broken. One by one, the children gave Little Sunshine a handshake. Soon the children wanted to know all about him. When they asked: ‘How did Little Sunshine come to you?’ I was not quite sure how to respond. I knew one thing for certain: if I told them I’d made him myself, the magic would vanish instantly. Trusting that something would come to mind, I just started to tell them a story. I took Little Sunshine onto my lap, put the basket on the floor in front of me and began:

'One day I saw this little basket at a market and I thought it was lovely, so I bought it and took it home. When I put it on the floor in the living room, Felix, our cat, came straight over and sniffed all around it.’ Felix loved lying in boxes and baskets. I left the basket lid slightly ajar, and soon, he cautiously stuck his nose into the basket and crawled inside. A few days went by and every now and then, when I was looking for Felix, I'd find him lying in the basket asleep. One day, when I called Felix to give him his food, he leapt out of the basket rather wildly, causing the lid to flip right over on to the floor (I showed the children how).

It was a lovely sunny day and a bright ray of sunshine shone in through the open window, straight into the open basket. And Little Sunshine, who was playing with all his friends, suddenly saw this bright ray of sunshine and thought it could be alovely slide. He climbed onto the ray of sunshine and whizzed right down. (I lifted Little Sunshine high into the air while I told them this and then let him slide down the imaginary sunbeam, landing straight in the basket.) Upon landing in the basket Little Sunshine said: ‘That was fun, let's do it again!’ He turned around and started climbing up the sunbeam. But it wasn’t as easy as he thought. It was slippery, and up so high!. When Little Sunshine had climbed a short distance, he couldn’t go any further and slid back down into the basket.

That was very disappointing to him, so he plucked up all his courage and gathered all his strength to give it another go. He managed to get a bit higher up this time, but in the end had to give up again. He slid back down again into the basket. Little Sunshine felt very sad indeed; how on earth was he ever going to get back to his friends?

When I walked into the room, I saw a very sad Little Sunshine sitting in a basket filled to the brim with sunlight. I walked carefully towards him and asked him if there was anything I could do to help. Little Sunshine said he would so love to go back to the sun and all of his friends, but that he couldn’t climb up high enough. I took him in my hand and guided him as high as I could along the sunbeam. I climbed up on my chair to reach even higher, but alas, I couldn’t reach the sun either…Little Sunshine sadly told me to stop trying, and I gently put him back into the basket. And guess what happened next....

Very slowly, a large grey cloud drifted in front of the sun, and the sunbeam was gone. Little Sunshine became even sadder, and I took him onto my lap to comfort him. When he cried out, ‘Now I’ll never, ever be able to go back to the sun,’ I said to him that he could come and live with me forever. He was quite pleased, but he said he loved his friends so much and he hadn’t seen any friends at all while he stayed with me. When I told him I had two children, that made him a little happier. ‘But I love to have lots and lots of friends,’ he said. I promised Little Sunshine that I would take him with me every time I went to school and that he could play with all the children there. And that I’d make him a lovely bed in the basket.

How happy and relieved all the children were when Little Sunshine jumped up and down on my lap with excitement!'

After that first time, the story of Little Sunshine was retold many times over in all classes I taught, from Kindergarten to lower school. Children often knew the story already, but simply wanted to hear it again. Time and again, I was moved by the compassion on the children’s faces when it became clear that Little Sunshine could not return to where he had come from. This was evidently a feeling the children recognised within themselves.

If ever there was a new child in a class I taught, I would always have Little Sunshine with me to greet them first. It always worked: the child’s shyness melted away like snow before the sun, as soon as Little Sunshine shook their hand and sometimes even gave them a gentle pat on the cheek. And whenever there was a misunderstanding or someone was sad, one of the children would come running over to Little Sunshine to have him help give comfort or find a solution. Soon smiles would break out and the sorrow was easily forgotten.

Whenever we were doing something a doll couldn’t partake in, Little Sunshine would be placed in a special spot so he could oversee everything clearly. And if a child wouldn’t help tidy up because they didn’t feel like it, I’d say: ‘Why don’t you ask Little Sunshine if he’d like to help, so you can do it together.’ More often than not, moments later, I’d see them energetically tidying up with one hand, while holding Little Sunshine in the other. Sometimes the children would let Little Sunshine hold things between his little arms, and even though that wasn’t practical, it did encourage the children to tidy up.

Little Sunshine was given lots of drawings over the years. Sometimes the children would hand the drawing to me, asking me to give it to him, or they’d simply place it in his little basket. Little Sunshine became friends with all kinds of dolls and cuddly toys that the children brought to school and each one of them was allowed to sit with him. Sometimes there were so many that you couldn’t even see the basket anymore. Over the years, Little Sunshine has become a wonderful companion to many children. Even children who moved on to higher classes would often, as they bumped into me somewhere in the school, ask me quietly: ‘Do you have Little Sunshine with you?’

The beautiful drawings were created by Janneke Rosenbrand.

You can buy the book here.

You can see Conny today in the header, with the original Little Sunshine and his basket, which she has kept to this day – interspersed with illustrations from the picture book.