Forget Me Not - Hardcover

Van Laan, Nancy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0449815439 ISBN 13: 9780449815434

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade, 2014

Synopsis

Young readers are given an emotionally powerful yet accessible introduction to what it is like having a close family member with Alzheimer’s disease in this deeply resonant story about the relationship between a girl and her grandmother.

Grandma’s whole family is concerned as they start to notice that she is becoming more and more forgetful. After they find her wandering the neighborhood, they need to make an important decision on her behalf—that the time has come for her to move out of her house and into an assisted living community where she can have the best care possible.

About this title

About the Author

Nancy Van Laan is the author of such beloved picture books as Rainbow Crow, Little Baby Bobby, and the Parents’ Choice Award winner Possum Come a-Knockin’, among others. She lives in the mountains of New York.

Stephanie Graegin is the illustrator of Water in the Park by Emily Jenkins, called “a wonderfully fresh look at a timeless topic” by Booklist in a starred review; Happy Birthday, Bunny! by Liz Garton Scanlon; and Don’t Feed the Boy by Irene Latham. Stephanie lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at graegin.com.

Reviews

K-Gr 3—When her grandmother begins exhibiting signs of Alzheimer's disease, Julia and her parents must come to terms with the illness and get her the care she needs. Grandma's slow alteration rings true: forgetting names, losing the car in a parking lot, and getting lost in a oft-visited place. Though the illustrations depict the child as quite young, her narration is rather adult in tone: "I remember when Grandma was still her old sweet self," "ever so slowly, like a low tide leaving the bay, a change came along," and, "When she sees her bed all abloom…." The mother's explanation of the disease is nonthreatening and easy for a child to understand. The pencil and ink washes, finished digitally and varying in size, subtly show how Grandma is becoming forgetful, from the dying plants and a watering can in the house to her mismatched socks and unkempt hair. Pair this with Mary Bahr's The Memory Box (Albert Whitman, 1992), which introduces the idea of how to preserve memories before they are lost forever.—Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI

Edition details

• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0449815439
• ISBN 13: 9780449815434
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Graegin Stephanie
• Number of pages: 40