Come Back Grandma - Hardcover

Limb, Sue

4.14

14 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679847200 ISBN 13: 9780679847205

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1993

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Bessie and her grandmother spend many hours together before her grandmother passes away, and years later, when Bessie has a daughter of her own, she is able to share the happy memories.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Bessie is well loved, but can't always find someone to play with; her parents are busy, and little Krishna next door isn't ``allowed out much.'' Still, Bessie has Grandma, who reads aloud, plays games (even hopscotch), and always has ``time for Bessie.'' When Grandma dies, Bessie tries to imagine heaven, where her mother says she is, and wonders if Grandma could have been reborn as an animal, as Krishna suggests; still, Bessie goes on missing her until, years later, Grandma is recalled in a very special way. Bessie's first child not only has Grandma's freckles and ``bendy thumbs''; she behaves like her, in some poignantly subtle ways. The comforting story, with its implied openness to the wisdom of various faiths, makes a different, nicely understated approach to the subject. Mu�oz's expressively cross-hatched drawings and muted watercolors perfectly capture the warmth of the relationships and the touching echo of the beloved old lady in her little great-granddaughter. A simply told story with unusual resonance. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Whenever her parents and friends were otherwise engaged, Bessie always had Grandma. The woman had speckled eyes, freckles, bendy thumbs, and, most of all, time. As a loving portrait of a grandparent, this picture book succeeds. It runs into trouble, however, when it tries to explain the woman's death and to give comfort. Bessie grows up and becomes the parent of a baby who, as she grows older, has many of Grandma's traits. Along the way, there is an attempt to make the deceased woman a part of nature and even to invoke the Hindu belief in reincarnation through a rather contrived introduction of a friend named Krishna. Although the soft watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations are soothing, the plot is too mechanical. Some readers may anticipate the final revelation-that Rose is just like Grandma-before it is disclosed. A moderately satisfying title in the growing genre of books for young children about loss and death.
Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.