Ten-year-old Shen Manman was slow at everything. She wrote slowly and reacted slowly, and always felt that there was something wrong with her.
One day, while she was up the mountain collecting stones, a heavy rain drove her into an old house overgrown with moss. There she met Granny Moss and rows upon rows of time jars. The jars held tiny memories people had lost. Small, warm moments, like picking wild berries or waving a fan on a summer night, would turn into glimmers of light and drift into the woods. Once they shattered, they would be gone forever.
No one else could see these fragments. Only careful Manman could. She became a memory collector, carrying a plane tree leaf as she gathered glimmers in the woods.
Manman slowly came to understand that being slow wasn't a flaw. Being willing to quiet her mind and observe carefully was a remarkable ability, too. This quiet adventure helped her accept herself and see the tenderness hidden in ordinary days.
Theme: Slow down, and you'll see the tenderness in ordinary life and learn to embrace what makes you unique.
