12 Dec / Grandpa Green by Lane Smith
From the genius creator of It’s a Book (still my personal battle cry!) comes another delightful low-tech celebration of things that don’t require electricity! “He was born a really long time ago,” the tale begins, “before computers or cell phones or television.” Imagine that sort of life for our 21st-century progeny … impossible huh? Well, it’s time to let them read and learn.
Leave it to Lane Smith to remind us all – wifi, (not-so-)smartphone, gadget-addicted adults included, ahem! – of the joys of a whole lifetime well-lived before all that stuff. Meet Grandpa Green, who grew up “on a farm with pigs and corn,” reading stories from actual books when chickenpox keeps him out of school. [Lane Smith even provides obvious nudging that this would be the perfect time to pull out your old copies of The Secret Garden, The Little Engine That Could, and The Wizard of Oz, because of course you have held on to your now-aging editions!]
Grandpa’s long life sees him through a world war that puts his love of horticulture on hold, but leads him to his future wife, to marriage, then kids, grandkids, and even a great-grandkid – the story’s “me.” Now that Grandpa is “pretty old,” he might tend to forget a thing or two, “[b]ut the important stuff, the garden remembers for him.”
I know, I know … but blink those appreciative, poignant tears aside because you won’t want to miss a single stroke of Lane Smith’s artistry.
As families gather in the coming weeks, Grandpa Green is the perfect reminder about the real reason for celebrating the holidays together. Electronics aside, stuff aside, Smith (and Grandpa) will convince you that sharing stories from generation to generation is quite possibly the best holiday gift of all …
Readers: Children
Published: 2011