Children's Books discussion

The second Sunday in September is Grandparents' Day. I know there are some beautiful picture books out there celebrating the grandparent/grandchild relationship. Here's our opportunity to share and discuss :-)

An opportunity to celebrate with grandchildren - no argument here! (In honor of Grandparents Day, I will report that my 3-month-old baby grandson is already enjoying his board books, laughing out loud when he gets to his favorite pages, and trying to turn the pages himself. He's a keeper!)

My favorite grandmother/grandson book is Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke. A beautiful book about dinner at Grannie's house. I smile just looking at the cover.



On a completely different note, I love Grandma Elephant's in Charge by Martin Jenkins. I had no idea that grandma elephants had such an important role in the elephant family! I like elephants even more than I used to!

There is a wonderful sounding Latino picture book I want to read, called I Love Saturdays y Domingos, about a little girl who spends Saturdays with her Euro-American grandparents and Sundays (Domingo is the Spanish word for Sunday) with her Mexican-American grandparents. Looks like a wonderful story and I'm glad to be reminded by this thread that I want to request this book from our library.

And I can now definitely recommend this book, it's magical and thoughtful.

Oooh, I love hearing about your grandchildren, Wilhelmina--it's so great that they have an awesome grandmother who loves to read to them, too ;-)

These books sound great! Onto my list they go!

Here are a few I've enjoyed featuring awesome grandparents:

Apple Pie and Onions

When Zaydeh Danced on Eldridge Street

Chicken Sunday

The Imaginary Garden

Woolbur

Wanda's Monster

You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum


Ultra-Violet Catastrophe! Or, The Unexpected Walk with Great-Uncle Magnus Pringle okay, it's about a great-uncle rather than a grandparent specifically, but it is still just so glorious about the multiple generations and family connection. I love this book!

And the Good Brown Earth about a boy gardening with his grandma. It's wonderful!!!

Many of the picture books about "sugaring" (maple syrup production) feature grandparents and the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren (in most of the books I have read so far, a grandchild goes to his/her grandparents' sugarbush to help, to experience the sugaring process). They are wonderful stories not only about the sugaring process, but also about the relationship between grandparent and grandchild (love, respect, and the passing on of family traditions)

Sugaring

At Grandpa's Sugar Bush

Sugarbush Spring

The Sugaring-Off Party

"Honey Cookies" by Meredith Hooper, formerly published as "A Cow, A Bee, A Cookie and Me.". Ben's cooking with his Grandma, who has an unusual way of telling him what ingredients come next.

Abigail wrote: "I just read a sweet little tale this morning featuring two young children and their grandmother. The kids - a brother and sister - stumble across their grandparents wedding clothing in the attic, a..."

Sounds great! Thanks.

I can't believe that we seem to have forgotten to mention Oma's Quilt (can definitely recommend that one).

Here is a list of Canadian books featuring grandparents

The Olden Days Coat
Morning on the Lake
Wild Bog Tea
The Secret of Your Name: Proud to Be Métis (this is just excellent)
Up Home (also simply lovely)
Nokum Is My Teacher With CD

Gigi and Ojiji Gigi and Ojiji: What’s in a Name?


Though not picture books, these two early reader books are good to read aloud for the picture book age group. Gigi is a sweet little girl, eager to bond with her grandfather who is moving to her house from Japan. Ojiji doesn't speak English and Gigi only knows a little bit of Japanese! How can they play together or train their dog together? Oh no!

In the second book, Gigi decides her nickname is babyish but her given name is difficult for Ojiji to say. He teaches her how to write her Japanese middle name, Hanako, which means flower child. Gigi decides to be known as Hanako but that doesn't quite seem right either. How can she tell Ojiji her name doesn't fit?

Both of those stories are super sweet and are about a special relationship between a young girl and her grandfather. I really wish these stories had been around when my honorary nieces were little. Their Ojiji was a lot of fun and I know at least one of the girls had the same experience trying to say a Japanese word that came out wrong and hearing her grandfather laugh. (He was teasing, Gigi's Ojiji doesn't know what to say). My friend's dad was a lot of fun and I expect when he saw his American granddaughters, their relationship was similar to the one in the book.

The books contain a glossary of Japanese words, which I did not need because I know as much Japanese as Gigi! Actually she can count to 10 and I can only count to 5.

I'm going to recommend these to my honorary nieces even though they're grown now. I hope they remember their Ojiji as fondly as this little Gigi will.

I was so happy to have been able to include my parents and in-laws (my kid’s grandparents) in my book ❤️

A Plan for Pops
This story is so sweet! One of my new favorites, for sure. It's about the bond between a child and grandparents (both men) and what happens when a beloved grandparent has a change in circumstances and feels depressed. This book is necessary to educate children in a sweet and gentle way about dealing with issues that come along as the elderly age. ("Shake rattle and roll" and "Elvis is king" generation).

Lou, the protagonist, spends every Saturday with Grandad and Pops. Grandad and Pops are opposites but Lou loves and learns from them both. They have a routine until one day Pops falls and can't get up. He has to be in a wheelchair not just for now but for always. Pops won't get out of bed! Lou and Grandad spend Saturdays trying to figure out how to help.

Lou is ungendered in the text, looks like a traditional boy in the illustrations but could be a girl with short hair and overalls. Probably deliberate on behalf of the author and illustrator. Both grandparents are men. There's nothing "explicit" about that. They sit at the breakfast table, eat, educate and entertain their grandchild, walk with Lou between them to the library and learn separately, eat lunch, and educate Lou separately. These two men could be friends who need to live together for financial reasons or they could be a couple. The author thanks her kids for teaching her that love is love so she probably intended them to be a couple but if the censors' kids have questions, they can honestly deflect those questions with whatever response works best.

The illustrations say a lot and add to the text. I can feel Lou's relationship with his grandparents just through pictures. This could be a wordless picture book and still tell the same story. Both text and illustrations work so well together and are very sweet!

QNPoohBear wrote: "A Plan for Pops
This story is so sweet! One of my new favorites, for sure. It's about the bond between a child and grandparents (both men) and what happens when a beloved grandparen..."

Yes, that's a lovely book, and a valuable one, I agree.