All the Lost Things

by Kelly Canby

Olive is not your ordinary girl. And one day when this spunky young lady decides to go for a walk in her grumpy, too-busy city, she finds some extraordinary things. What Olive does with them will delight and inspire. This lively picture book is filled with the author's exuberant collage artwork and playfully hand-lettered words.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2015

About the author

Kelly Canby is an internationally published illustrator and author. Kelly was born in London, but has lived in Australia since the age of three, which is probably around the same age she started playing with pencils and crayons, and it was probably only a few years after that that she decided playing with pencils and crayons was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Reviews

[Lily Bendickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books begins with a little girl walking through a dark street. She hears a strange noise through a manhole and decided to explore. She finds an old woman with many boxes that she’s told are all the lost things from the city. She proceeds to pick out gifts for her family members and fills a jar with hope. She takes that jar to the highest point in the city and then lets it out!

All The Lost Things was such a cute book. Everything is in black and white in the beginning until the little girl lets hope into the city. She’s always been colorful, but the city had lost its color. She is constantly thinking of others and what she can give them and it’s sweet to read.

I would definitely have this book on my shelves. It teaches the importance of hope while also showing the joy that comes from helping others.

[Sharon Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the Lost Things is a picturebook by Kelly Canby. Olive is not your ordinary girl; she is curious, thoughtful, and spunky. And one day when she goes for a walk in her grumpy, too-busy city, she finds some extraordinary things. Lured by a strange sound she ventures into a hidden space and finds a stash of lost things like memory, sight, and more. What Olive does with them will delight and inspire.

All the Lost Things is filled with delightful artwork including hand lettered words and bold strokes. Olive is a spunky and curious girl, lured through a man hole cover to explore what exactly was making a particular sound. She finds an old lady and boxes, jars, and more. Each box and jar is clearly labeled with the type of lost items that fill the container. When Olive finds jars holding memory, humor, the way, and hope she does something wonderful with each. Her thoughtfulness and love for others shines through her actions and makes this a great story.

All the Lost Things is a fabulous picturebook about finding the things we all seem to lose, but all need to hold on to and share with those around us. Olive’s thoughtfulness and the artwork are just about perfect. The artwork and the hand drawn lettering offer readers high action pages that capture and keep the attention and imagination of readers of all ages.

[Aeicha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kelly Canby's All The Lost Things is a wonderful explosion of color, whimsy, and charm! A little girl named Olive takes a walk around the city and finds extraordinary lost things when she climbs a ladder down a manhole. Down there, Olive collects jars of memory, sense of humor, eyesight, the way, and hope, then spreads that colorful hope EVERYWHERE.

All The Lost Things is such a bubbly, fun story that little readers will fall in love with. Olive's spectacular journey is told through funny and clever text. Canby combines hand-drawn different fonts, collage style artwork, and splashes of color to create the enthralling and wondrous illustrations.

Readers of all ages will want to read All The Lost Things over and over again!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too chaotic for my liking. As a dyslexic it's a bit hard to follow non-linear sentences. The illustrations are cute.

[Holly Haught]

In the story, a girl came across a manhole in the city and decided to explore it. In it, she found an old lady that had many boxes full of things lost or left behind. The girl was told that she could take somethings if she wished to. She was constantly putting others before herself and trying to help them by collecting direction for her mother and eyesight for her father. At the end, she went to the highest point she could think of, and shared the hope that she had collected.

I enjoyed this sweet book. I loved the story line, but the illustrations weren't my favorites. They made everything on the page seem sort of jumbled up to me, but I would assume that was done on purpose to help the story line! This made me smile and I loved the ending!

In the classroom, I would use this book to encourage the children to share and think about others. In the story, the girl was putting others before herself, as we should all be doing.

[Hannah Kay]

All the Lost Things is about a girl named, Olive, who climbs down a ladder into a hole. She discovers hundreds of boxes filled with things like pencils, glasses, and thoughts! She finds out this this old lady has been collecting all of these different things. So, Olive collects different things in these jars. She collected humor in one of her jars to give to her older sister because she felt that she had lost it! One of the most important things she collects is hope for the world! At the end of the book, she empties her jar of hope onto the world and it brightens it up!
This book is SO sweet! I read it last semester and I absolutely fell in love with it. It has such a good meaning to it and it has great humor too.
I would use this book in the classroom to teach about the concept of hope. I think it's important, especially in this time and age, to teach children to have and to spread hope everywhere. Just a jar full of hope can give the world so much light!

[Sydnee Gann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olive is a rather unique little girl, living in a rather ordinary world-that is until she finds an open manhole, with a peculiar sound echoing out. Olive climbs to the bottom, hoping she could get to the bottom of this strange sight; it is here where she learns the world (and us as individuals) have all lost little pieces of ourselves. When the managing old lady says she can take some of the lost things with her, what will Olive choose to take and what will she do with it as she goes?

I LOVE this book-as a Christian, I think it really emphasizes our desire and destiny to be a light in this world that often forgets about the hope and love available to them.

I think I could use this book to really teach students about how they can make a difference in the world. Like I said, I think the lesson could be really different at a private school.

[Shelby Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary:
Olive goes on a walk, and on her walk she hears a sound from an open man-hole. She climbs down the man-hole to investigate and finds a little old woman surrounded by a huge amount of boxes. The lady says that they are all lost things from the city and that Olive can take anything she wants. Olive grabs several jars and fills them up with things like memory and a sense of humor for her family. On the last jar she takes hope and empties the jar into the city for anyone who has lost it.

My response:
This is such a sweet book! I love the difference it showed in black and white vs color. All of the sweet things she put in jars really showed her love and care for not only her family but everyone.

How I might use it:
This book could be used to show thinking of others, noticing things in others, and showing emotions through color.

[Carson Gentry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a curious kid name Oliver. Oliver finds an open manhole and decides to climb down into it. When he gets down there he finds a lot of lost things. He gathers 5 different jars to share with people who have lost (or are losing) things. She got jars of Memory, Humor, Eyesight, The Way, & Hope. She then climbs out of the manhole and uses the lost things for good.

I enjoyed the book and I think this would be a good lesson about helping people get back what they have lost. I love the idea of sharing hope and humor with people and I would love to instill this to any age of students

I thought the illustrations were really cool. The change of color and the looseness of the pictures were really cool. It was kinda abstract.

[Riley Cockerham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about a girl named Olive and her adventure as she walks through her ordinary city. This city is full of people yelling at each other and no one bothering to be kind anymore and Olive does not like it. While on her walk she finds a hole in the street and decides to go down it. When she gets down to the bottom she finds something amazing, an old women who has boxes of all the lost things from the city above. What Olive finds in these boxes changes the whole city above!

This story is so beautiful! I love the art this book has in it and the message it fills all its readers!

I would use this in my classroom as a read aloud for when my kids need a little encouragement or inspiration. This is one of my favorite picture books thus far!

[Kayla Word]

In this story, a young girl named Olive decides to go on a walk through her busy city. Along the way she comes across a manhole that she decides to climb into. Upon further investigation, she discovers that the manhole is filled with boxes of things that people have lost throughout the years. The little old lady who keeps the boxes decides to let Olive take home a few things. She decides to take things that her family members have lost such as vision and a sense of humor. The last thing that she takes is a jar of hope and shares it across her busy city. I really enjoyed this book, and I thought that it was very unique. I would use this book to discuss curiosity and memory with my students.

[Brittany Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone loses things, and an old woman had put them in boxes for people to come pick up. However, nobody ever comes looking for them, so she allows Olivia to take what ever she wants. She fills up jars with things like hope, eyesight, and even memory.
This book was such a sweet and positive read! I would love to use this in class when talking about family or positivity.

[Emma Blanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the amount of color within this book, that is truly the first thing that caught my eye. This story is unique and interesting, and I find it to be a good read even for adults. It tells the story of a girl who goes down a manhole in the city and finds a bunch of things people have lost.

[Jeanine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This story didn't even remotely go the route I expected and I'm so much happier with where it ended up! A bit abstract for little ones, but the mixed media images are captivating for all ages. Such a sweet and funny message of hope and generosity!

[Mollie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! All of the lost things are more than just tangible objects. Definitely including this for "Walk to Work" theme.

[Bec Perrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly one of my favourite children's books! Wonderful, innocent, kind and inspiring :-)

[Haaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting. The concept was unique and very wholesome.

[Jenny Esots · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a burst of sunshine and hope for these turbulent times.

[Claire (B) Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olive uses these jars full of feelings to help her friends gain back what they lost. This sweet book is great for kids who need to understand or learn empathy and good friendship.

[Katie Steffins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olive decided to go for a walk one day. Along the way, she found a lot of peculiar things-- including many lost things across the city that are precious to those who previously owned them. She decided what to do with all of these lost things, which in turn helped the people around her.

I chose this book because it has a really lovely message. Every reader, young or old, could take after the main character's example to, in turn, live a happier life. This primary level book gives a message that it is more beneficial to brighten others' days, as it will make you happier in the end.

I would use this Fiction book in my classroom in a variety of ways. For one, it's a great book to read if your students have gone through a tough time. It is also a great way to introduce a lesson on kindness and strength, which could in turn become a writing prompt for my students. They could listen to the book, and then write a few sentences about how they would brighten someone's day.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day Olive comes across a place in the city where an old lady keeps all the lost things safe. There are many trivial things like pencils, hair clips, and bus passes, but more importantly, there are things that hold much more value such as courage, will power, and energy. Olive decides to take five jars and fill them with these lost things to share with her family, but also the people in her city.

All the Lost Things is a wonderful mentor text to use to talk about concrete vs. abstract and how we can lose things that aren't necessarily tangible.

[Dena McMurdie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful picture book! The book starts with a black and white world — the only bit of color is a small girl. She follows a strange sound down a manhole where she finds something that changes her world.

The hand-drawn illustrations lend a charming feel to this book, and the message of the story is beautiful. I love the idea that through a selfless act, one little girl can change the world she lives in. It’s a good message for everyone, and a good way to encourage children to look on the bright side.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I wasn't sure where it was going (little girls going down manholes, creepy!) but the rest of the story was quite lovely. I wish there really was a cute little old lady who went around collecting a cataloging lost things.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a clever story with unique illustrations. Be prepared to read every label on the books, if you are planning on reading this as a bedtime story. The plot is a little abstract, so some kids might not understand the humor of this book.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl finds an open manhole with an old lady guarding all the list things - I love that they are not just concrete items, but abstract ideas as well - which might give readers, young and old, something to contemplate. Wish the girl would have taken and sprinkled some patience around as well!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice story. Loved the illustrations. Many talk worthy discussions possible and will make a nice companion story to Pandora's Box myth.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to remind us of the "things" we really need.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore> these illustrations! They are so beautiful! The story is incredibly sweet as well. This one is great all around.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was pretty cute and fun, but it was a bit schmaltzy for me (or my current mood).

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

After discovering a mysterious place of lost things, a spunky girl named Olive gives unique gifts to her family, saving her last present--hope--for the world.