After writing two emotional books about cancer and a girl who survived horrific accidents, author Sally Collings needed a break, so she asked children for their advice.
The result is the hilarious, often poignant The World According to Children: a child's eye view of life, love and chocolate cake, a collection of musings on life that ranges from the worst thing about being an adult to what happens when we die.
"I like the idea of a book that's in the words of kids, words that are not filtered by parents," Collings, who lives in Brisbane, Australia with her two daughters, told Reuters about the book that was published earlier this month.
"I thought it was a real heartwarmer, and it makes you laugh because it's not just funny, it's also so true."
Collings' previous offerings have been heart-wrenching as well as inspirational: Sophie's Journey tells the story of Sophie Delezio, who lost both feet, some fingers and her right ear — as well as suffering serious burns to most of her body — when a car crashed into her daycare centre in December 2003.
Delezio also survived being hit by a car two years ago, suffering near-fatal injuries, and the book traces her path through the words of friends, family, hospital staff and supporters.
Then, reeling from the death of her mother from cancer, Collings tried to see if there was an upside to the disease after reading that two out of three cancer survivors and their family considered something good had come out of the experience.
From that emerged Positive, a collection of the stories of various cancer survivors and their families.
"I got to the end of those two books, and I thought I can't go through there again. I needed pure joy," Collings said. "I used to joke that I want to write a book about fluffy kittens, but couldn't find an angle on them."
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