YPWD Book Review - Grandad's New Home

We are very pleased to share with you our June 2021 book review from our YPWD Library.  Our thanks on this occasion go to Alain Wilkes who is one of the charity’s Trustees. Alain took ‘Visiting Grandad’s New Home’ by Virginia Ironside and has provided his review below.

If you like the sound of the book following Alain’s review you can borrow the book from our library. All you need to do is to email us and we will mail the book to you.

Review

I gave this to my nine year old granddaughter, Charlotte, to read, which she did quite happily. When I asked her how she had found the book she told me that she had been sad half way through because the Grandad was no longer in his own home, but felt happier at the end when he seemed to be settled in his care home. She was pleased that Grandad had asked Emma to come back to see him despite not recognising her. When I asked her if she understood what dementia was, she was able to articulate it well. In particular she understood about not remembering things even after a short time and sometimes getting angry, as the Grandad did when he shouted for his biscuits and that it was something to do with the brain. At this point she compared it to one of her school friends who had epilepsy and that this was also to do with the brain not quite working right.

As we talked more, Charlotte asked if someone could have dementia if they were young and seemed to accept the answer that yes, they could. She then asked if her Granny had had dementia before she died. Again the answer was yes, which she accepted, as before, in a very matter of fact way.

Overall, I felt that this book explained dementia in a very non frightening way. It was clearly aimed at helping children to accept their grandparent’s admission to a care home but it dealt with a lot of the questions that a young person might ask when that grandparent was still living in their own home. It read easily and I would definitely recommend it for younger readers.

AW