On the face of it, A ROSE FOR GRANDMA is a simple book aimed at explaining a common medical reality – dementia and Alzheimer’s disease amongst the elderly – to kids. Rather than a medical approach, it focuses on looking at the impact on children as grandparents cease to be able to function as they may have been able to in the past, and attempts to give the situation a context kids can understand. For this particular audience, A ROSE FOR GRANDMA has a lot to offer and is, as outlined in the foreword, based on more than 40 years experience garnered by author Christiana Egi in elder-care settings.
The rose in the story represents the grandparents themselves and their interaction with the kids, but also the love between the grandparents, whose story dates back to the gifting of a rose early in their relationship. It appears on the cakes that grandma bakes, and in the garden, and the decline of these activities comes to represent grandma’s growing reclusiveness and confusion. The children in the story are very close to grandma, and notice her decline quickly. She steps away from her usual activities and becomes upset and disconnected, and naturally the kids are both upset and keen to understand why.
The text takes a ‘softly softly’ approach to explaining what is happening to grandma, something appropriate to those aged perhaps about four to seven years old. The focus is on the symptoms of dementia manifested in practical environments, and what the consequences of these issues might be. The message is delivered in short, practical chapters of a few dozen words–illustrated with positive-looking family pictures–all set up to deliver an important message in the least abrupt way possible. There are silly examples, like putting glasses in the microwave, but also a deeper, more important meaning. This book is simple, then, but that’s kind of the point. It’s not aimed at a deep understanding of dementia or Alzheimer’s, but at giving kids a grounding in what they might be experiencing in real life, and why, as well as preparing them a little for the future. It has clever aspects, emotionally, as well as in dealing with the practicalities, and on the whole comes across as quite soothing. It’s full of practicalities that a kid could understand, and comes with a list of resources at the back, and an acceptance that things aren’t going to be the same as life goes forward, delivered with practiced gentleness.
Simple, kind and practical, A ROSE FOR GRANDMA doesn’t attempt to do anything sophisticated, but by acting as a conduit to children facing difficult change, and raising pertinent examples, it’s a valuable support that achieves all it sets out to in a subtle and soulful way.
~James Hendicott for IndieReader