Gramma's Walk - Hardcover

Hines, Anna Grossnickle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688114806 ISBN 13: 9780688114800

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 1993

Synopsis

Donnie and Gramma, who is in a wheelchair, take an imagined walk to the seashore and smell the salty breeze, walk barefoot on the warm sand, observe animals, and build a sand castle

About this title

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Donnie's Gramma gets around in a wheelchair, but through the magic of imagination, the two of them walk to the beach; listen, feel, and smell the sea; identify prints in the sand; and admire the wildlife. The wake from a passing ferry collapses the sand castle they build, leaving only the flag and footprints when they head for home. "'You know what, Gramma?'" Donnie says. "'You're the best walker in the whole world.'" Soft-lined, muted watercolors and colored pencils create pristine, full-page seascapes. No big deal is made of Gramma's condition, nor is the reason for it given; what comes through is total acceptance and intergenerational love. A warm and wonderful story for helping children understand aging, much like Tomie dePaola's Now One Foot, Now the Other (Putnam, 1992), and Sally Whitman's A Special Trade (HarperCollins, 1985).
Virginia Opocensky, formerly at Lincoln City Libraries, NE
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gramma doesn't really walk now; she's in a wheelchair. But she and Donnie have a splendid game: he chooses where he'd like to explore--today, it's the seashore--and they talk about it together, in loving detail rendered in the full-bleed recto art. Text-pages vignettes show the pair at home, where Donnie sometimes shuts his eyes to imagine the feel of warm sand, the smell of the salty breeze, or the sound of the waves. They identify birds, build a sandcastle, and are lucky enough to see an otter before going home. It's a simple idea developed with special imagination and care--and the warmly affectionate illustrations of the pair bringing their shared experience to life are especially nice. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 2-4. With a combination of storytelling and imaginative play, a boy and his Gramma pretend they're walking together at the seashore. She's in a wheelchair; his head is in her lap; together they take a walk where they have been before and make it new. The text is on the left hand page, along with a small picture that shows Donnie and Gramma playing their game; filling the right hand page is a realistic, delicately textured scene in watercolor and colored pencil picturing what they imagine on their walk at the beach. The experience is precise and physical, including details of sound and touch as well as what they see: the waves lapping the rocks, the warm sand on the beach, the peeper birds, an otter, a shell. "See it," they say to each other. The intimacy and shared adventure has the appeal of stories and games done over and over. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688114806
• ISBN 13: 9780688114800
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1