To adults, a child’s world is so simple.  We look back at it and wish …  But to that child, every day has that same mix of new experiences and familiar joys that make up the adult world.

My Grandparents captures that beautifully.  At first adult glance, it is simple, almost bare.  But the child’s eyes see so much more.

John spends a day with his grandparents.  He digs in the garden with Grandpa, feeds the chooks, picks cherries, bakes a cherry cake with Grandma, eats it and goes home.

Simple, yes.  But read this with a beginning reader – read the pictures as well as the words – and the child’s world opens up.  Look at the delight on the face of John being wheeled in the wheelbarrow.  Note his reassuring arm hanging on to Grandpa in the chook shed.  See how his tongue sticks out in concentration while mixing the cake.

The balance between the text and the illustrations is perfect in My Grandparents. Both aspects are pitched at the beginning reader.  The print is large, without being patronising, and spaced out enough for a little finger to track along it; the pictures show what a child would see as the highlights of such a day.  The final page is a recipe for Grandma’s cherry cake, just crying out to be a joint effort.

Koala Books, a local firm, releases top European titles in Australian editions to support their local content.  My Grandparents is Belgian and demonstrates perfectly how universal is the world of the child.

Review by David Beagley

© 2002 David Beagley