The Care and Keeping of Grandmas

Written by Jennifer Mook-Sang

Illustrated by Yong Ling Kang

Tundra Books

978-0-‎7352-7134-0

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

April  2023

 

Many children will be spending time with grandparents this summer when their parents are busy working. It'll be a special time for many of them, being nurtured and loved and experiencing new learning. But when a grandparent moves in with a family that nurturing can go both ways, as both child and grandparent spend time together. Jennifer Mook-Sang's story is all about that special and tender relationship that comes when a grandmother comes to live with her granddaughter's family.

From The Care and Keeping of Grandmas, written by Jennifer Mook-Sang, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Like the plants her grandma brings with her, a little girl tries to make her grandmother comfortable. After all, adapting to new surroundings can be a little tough at first. And this child is all about making her feel at home. She makes sure she knows where everything is and helps her make her room her own. It takes time to adjust to new routines and new surroundings and the child makes sure her grandmother has what she needs. 

From The Care and Keeping of Grandmas, written by Jennifer Mook-Sang, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

As her grandmother tends to her plants, ensuring they have light and food and water, the child  ensures her grandmother gets what she needs too. It might be noise-cancelling headphones or a playful water fight, but the child watches out for her. Sometimes both grandma and plant struggle, whether wilting from the stresses of the environment or their new circumstances. But love and attention can make it all better. Then the new place becomes home where they belong and fit in and even thrive.

From The Care and Keeping of Grandmas, written by Jennifer Mook-Sang, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Not all young children are fortunate enough to have an elder move in with them but, though it may be a difficult transition for all concerned, just as it is with transplanting a plant to a new pot or flower bed, it can be incredibly rewarding. I don't know if Jennifer Mook-Sang has ever had a grandmother move in with her family but the openness of her story to the fullness of that intergenerational relationship and the richness of the new circumstances is certainly revealing. Told with much affection and patience, The Care and Keeping of Grandmas is all about making it right for the grandmother, not expecting her to just fit into their situation. The child's understanding of the difficulties and challenges of adapting to a new situation is filled with compassion, and I suspect it is the reason that her grandma eventually finds her place with them. 

Even though there are challenges, illustrator Yong Ling Kang keeps the lightness of Jennifer Mook-Sang's story with her watercolour and pencil artwork. Whether it's the freshness of the plants growing inside or out, or the colourful clothes which they wear, or the scenes of markets and kitchens and bedrooms, Yong Ling Kang keeps everything lively, even if subdued, and bright without being too bold. Her artwork is so reflective of an elder whose life is slowing down a bit and a child who is keeping pace with her to help her fit in.

Transitioning to a new living situation is difficult at the best of times but imagine how difficult it might be when giving up your own home to share one with your younger family. The adjustment would be great and not always successful, as one plant discovers, but with love and time much can be resolved. Ultimately, Jennifer Mook-Sang and Yong Ling Kang show us that this grandma, like many of her plants, will be just fine, perhaps even flourishing.

Harvey Comes Home

Written by Colleen Nelson

Illustrations by Tara Anderson

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-097-0

224 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2019

A scent, a touch, a colour, a voice. They can draw memories. And memories can take you places. They can take you away from the present and towards something else. They can take you to a past that needs to be remembered or give direction to follow forward. And they can take you home in more ways than one.
 
Harvey is a West Highland Terrier who is left in the care of a dog-sitter while Maggie and her family go on holidays. While they are away, Harvey gets out of his yard and "His curiosity takes him farther and farther away from his home." (pg. 18) After several days away, scrambling for food, attacked by another dog, distracted from a rescue, Harvey is found by eleven-year-old Austin who helps his Grandpa out after school at the Brayside Retirement Villa. Though his mother and grandfather insist that Harvey's owners must be looking for him and that Austin needs to take him to the shelter to help locate them, Austin lies about his efforts, hopeful that he'll be able to keep the dog.

During the day, Harvey stays with Grandpa Phillip at Brayside where everyone, staff and residents alike, fawn over the Westie who acts as an unofficial therapy dog. But when Austin arrives, Harvey accompanies him on his chores. When the reticent Mr. Pickering takes a liking to Harvey, Austin finds the ninety-six-year-old man finally willing to talk and share about his past. He talks of his own dog, General, and of growing up during the 1930s. Though Mr. Pickering is sometimes confused about who Austin is, whether his own wife is still alive, and what Brayside is, he goes to a place of memory with Harvey by his side. As for Harvey, when he "sits beside Mr. Pickering, he drifts off into a place of contentment." (pg. 69)

While Mr. Pickering reminisces about living during the Depression and his complicated friendship with an abandoned girl named Bertie, Harvey's memories of Maggie are fading to elusive scents and sounds, Austin continues in his uncomfortable lies, and Maggie searches desperately for the Westie. Colleen Nelson's title may give away a happy ending for Harvey but it's wrapped in a complex tug-of-war of emotions as Mr. Pickering tells his heartrending stories about hardships and tragedies and lessons about forgiveness are learned.

Told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Harvey, Maggie and Austin, Harvey Comes Home is not just a story about a dog lost and found. It's a story about the bonds between human and dog. These are the bonds that tie us in love and gratitude, responsibility and empathy. They are the ones that give us our humanity via our benevolence for others. But Harvey Comes Home is also about the power of memory to bring us home. I will admit that Colleen Nelson's story brought me to tears time and time again, as an aging Mr. Pickering grabs at his memories, as Bertie survives against all odds, and as Harvey and General are loved and love.  Colleen Nelson always tells a good story (see her YA titles Sadia, Blood Brothers, Finding Hope, and The Fall for a great sampling) but, in her first middle-grade novel, she is able to grab the reader's heartstrings while blending a dog story with an intergenerational relationship and embedding profound reflections on the Depression and the Dust Bowl. It's a complete package as Harvey's, Maggie's and Austin's stories converge, integrated with heart and important messages about connecting with others and forgiveness for mistakes made when scared, hurt or alone.

Harvey Comes Home will make dog-lovers hug their animals and children ask their grandparents to share their stories from their own childhoods, bringing all a little closer and giving life to new memories for all.

From Harvey Comes Home by Colleen Nelson, illus. by Tara Anderson

Dancing with Daisy

Written by Jan L. Coates

Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

978-1-927917206

44 pp.

Ages 4-8

June 2019

Dancing with Daisy is a grandfather's story told to a grandchild intrigued by an album of old photos and memories. It's also a a fisherman's story so you know it might be a bit of a tall tale.

From Dancing with Daisy, text by Jan L. Coates, art by Josée Bisaillon

"Back in '62 it was, a frosty fall day." So begins this fisherman's tale of the onslaught of Hurricane Daisy as she "came roaring up the coast. She whirled and spun and whipped the waves into such a frenzy, they started leaping straight up onto the deck."

From Dancing with Daisy, text by Jan L. Coates, art by Josée Bisaillon

In true tall tale fashion, the grandfather exaggerates Daisy's impact as she  throws him onto an island and tugs and grabs at him to draw him into a dance. His wrinkles are the result of Daisy trying to bribe him with dollars that sliced into his skin and created scars. His arthritic hands came from clutching the branches of the tree and his blue veins resulted from her freezing cold breath. His raspy voice came from barking communications with a seal washed up on shore and he lost his hair when Daisy grabbed at his hair, playing "He loves me, he loves me not."

From Dancing with Daisy, text by Jan L. Coates, art by Josée Bisaillon

He returned to shore first on a handcrafted raft and then upon his own home's red roof, walking seven back-breaking miles before losing his teeth that ended up as icebergs. Daisy only abandoned her quest to dance with the man after "Nana went out and gave her a good talking to."

From Dancing with Daisy, text by Jan L. Coates, art by Josée Bisaillon

The grandfather undoubtedly remembers every detail of his harrowing assault on his fishing boat while besieged by Hurricane Daisy which tracked through the Maritimes in early October of 1962. It took six lives in Canada and smashed fishing boats, piers, and buildings with its rainfall and high winds. But the grandfather of Jan L. Coates's story protects his grandchild from the devastating truths of Daisy's impact and instead makes it into a tall tale that explains his aging, its own overwhelming trial, even ending with a good laugh.

Josée Bisaillon's art is a wonderful accompaniment to Jan L. Coates's story, taking readers to the Atlantic coast of colourful buildings, cold grey waters and tumultuous weather through her illustrations of watercolours, pastels, pencil and cut paper. Presenting the wind is a formidable task but Josée Bisaillon conveys movement and power in the water and the sky without restraint. It may be scary and mighty but it's still playful in its dance, and with the affectionate closeness of grandparent and child, Dancing with Daisy becomes more intergenerational tale, even if a little tall, than recall of a disaster.

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Running the Goat Books & Broadsides shares a video of Jan L. Coates discussing her story and background for Dancing with Daisy on YouTube.

Uploaded to YouTube by Running the Goat on June 27, 2019.

Ojiichan's Gift

Written by Chieri Uegaki

Illustrated by Genevieve Simms

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-963-1

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

April 2019

When Mayumi was born, her grandfather built a special rock garden to celebrate.  Then each year, she would visit him in Japan for the summer months, spending time with her Ojiichan while learning to tend to the garden, including how to weed, water, prune and the all-important raking of the gravel. Over this task, grandfather and granddaughter would bond.

From Ojiichan's Gift by Chieri Uegaki, illus. by Genevieve Simms

Amidst the bustle of her own city, Mayumi would recall those special times and that Zen garden by studying her tin box of treasures: dried leaves, tiny pine cones and smooth rocks.

From Ojiichan's Gift by Chieri Uegaki, illus. by Genevieve Simms

But with time, things change. Little girls grow up and grandfathers grow older.  The summer comes when Mayumi's parents must visit Japan to pack up Ojiichan's house which, like his garden, cannot be cared for by the now wheelchair-bound man. Frustrated by her Ojiichan's new circumstances, Mayumi's tries to take on the garden. But it's only when she concedes, creating a Zen garden for Ojiichan in a lacquered bento box, that Mayumi can find calm again.

Chieri Uegaki has honoured her Japanese heritage once again, having already helped showcase it in Suki's Kimono (Kids Can Press, 2003) and Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin (Kids Can Press, 2014). In these previous stories, a young girl looks up to her Obachan who gifted her with a kimono or to a grandfather who plays Second Violin in a symphony orchestra. In Ojiichan's Gift, a girl is again looking up to a grandparent, here a grandfather who has gifted her with a garden that celebrates her birth. But when he can no longer care for that garden, that little girl, not so little anymore, gifts him with a portable garden that would enshrine his original forever.

... if she closed her eyes and listened, she was certain she could still hear the pebbles' soothing chatter.

From Ojiichan's Gift by Chieri Uegaki, illus. by Genevieve Simms

Genevieve Simms creates that same distinction of adoration and respect in her illustrations. While her artwork goes beyond the garden, including spreads of air travel and life in a Canadian city, it's Genevieve Simms's illustrations of the garden that favour Chieri Uegaki's message of serenity and connection. The rocks and the shrubs, the trees and gravel, bamboo and sparrow all create a living world in a dry landscape. It's a world perfect for meditation and companionship.

The garden may have been Ojiichan's gift to Mayumi and her bento box garden may be the gift she presents to him, but the greatest gift is the relationship between Ojiichan and granddaughter and that's something special to contemplate.