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Grandma can see them now, too.”<\/em>
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\n“My grandfather’s name is Kaj, and my grandmother’s name is Gerda. I go to see them a lot.” Thus opens Betina Birkj\u00e6rs<\/a><\/strong> Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop, Lost<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Enchanted Lion), illustrated by Anna Margrethe Kj\u00e6rgaard<\/a><\/strong> and translated by Sin\u00e9ad Quirke K\u00f8ngerskov. This Danish import, originally published in 2019 and coming to U.S. shelves in December, tells a tenderly crafted (and seamlessly translated) story about dementia as if affects an intergenerational relationship. <\/p>\n
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Kaj calls Gerda “Stump,” and he has 123 different flowers in his sunroom. Furthermore, he knows the name of each flower in Latin. He also loves coffee, his wife, and his granddaughter. Grandpa and Stump spend a lot of time together. In one instance, they do a puzzle together (one that pictures a white rabbit in the snow) and Grandpa tells Stump all about a rabbit he once had as a child. <\/p>\n
Grandpa begins to forget words, and Kj\u00e6rgaard depicts this loss literally: When Grandpa forgets the word for “rose,” Stump looks under the table where the three of them sit to see four black letters spelling “Rose” lying on the rug. As pictured below, she follows him one day, wearing a black beret he often wears, and catches the word “Coffee.” Stump collects these words in a box. <\/p>\n
Kj\u00e6rgaard also depicts Grandpa’s sunroom as filled with oversized, eye-catching flowers, infused with primarily rose, salmon, and cornflower tones. (The world-building she does here is impressive; it’s a home we want to step into to and characters we come to care about.) As Grandpa forgets his words, he forgets his flowers too \u2014 and they begin to droop. Here, Kj\u00e6rgaard also uses color effectively, a cool blue taking over several spreads as Grandpa’s memory worsens. <\/p>\n
Stump has a brilliant, and quite poignant, idea for easing Grandpa’s worries and even jogging a few memories (I will leave this for you to discover when you find a copy of this exquisite book), especially after a frightening incident in which they cannot find him in the home. She also gives him a rabbit, just like the one he had as a child and just like the one pictured on their puzzle. A closing note (“Dementia and Memory”) explains the importance of reminiscence<\/em> (“a recognized professional concept for planned and systematic work with human memories”) when a loved one has dementia. <\/p>\n In recent years we’ve seen an increasing number of picture books about grandparents suffering dementia or Alzheimers. This is one you won’t want to miss. Here are some spreads so that you can see some of the beauty for yourself. (Click each image to see the spreads in their entirety.) BRIGHT STAR. Text and illustrations copyright \u00a9 2021 by Yuyi Morales. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n 1)<\/strong><\/font> A 16th birthday in the Danielson household. <\/p>\n 2)<\/strong><\/font> A lovely outdoor dinner with friends.<\/p>\n 3)<\/strong><\/font> Coffee with my sister. <\/p>\n 4)<\/strong><\/font> A good, long walk with friends. <\/p>\n 5)<\/strong><\/font> Crisp autumn air that actually had me shivering. <\/p>\n 6)<\/strong><\/font> The joys of an iPad stylus pen (what took me so long?) for copyediting assignments that require lots of tiny marks and abundant erasing.<\/p>\n 7)<\/strong><\/font> Another new song from Elbow!
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Grandpa loses more and more of his words.”<\/em>
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It keeps me busy from morning to night.”<\/em>
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He still likes to smell the flowers, but it’s Grandma who takes care of them now. …”<\/em>
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