In the foreword to this attractive photo collection of grandparents and their grandchildren, Bishop Desmond Tutu states: “We make sure that the wisdom of our ancestors is passed on to the next generation.” Written in the voice of today’s grandchildren, the simple sentences that form the body of the text accompany engaging photographs of the world’s children sharing stories, celebrating holidays, feeling happy, safe and loved, and learning from one another. Sometimes wearing traditional clothing, sometimes dressed in contemporary wear, kids and their grandparents from Peru, China, the United States, Russia, Morocco, Kenya, Yemen and other countries smile out from the photographs. A few look serious, as a child points out something on the computer to a Japanese grandparent and a Pakistani grandparent reads a picture book to his young grandson. Some proceeds go to The Global Fund for Children, but the real contribution will be to further the relationships of the young and young-at-heart viewers of this book. Translations of “Grandma” and “Grandpa” in different languages and a map reinforce the international breadth of this charmer. (activities) (Picture book. 3-8)

-Kirkus Review

The authors illustrate the sharing of cultural heritage using photographs from around the world that depict grandparents listening, playing, and teaching children about the past as well as joining with them to celebrate family traditions. Foreword, Map, Five Activities.

This book is a photo album depicting grandparents and grandchildren around the world. It utilizes actual photographs and brief short text in order to tell the story. ( )

I liked this book for several reasons. The main message of this book was to inform young readers about grandparents and families around the world and the similarities and differences among cultures. I enjoyed that the book showed grandparents from all over the world, including Romania, Russia, China and the USA. This showed readers the differences between the cultures. Each picture was labeled with the country the family was from which helped the reader learn about the culture and their family practices. I enjoyed that the text was simple, featuring sentences like “Grandparents take care of us, and we take care of them too”. The surrounding pictures show how grandparents take care of children around the world. I enjoyed this because the text did not overpower the images and the text was made accessible for young readers. Children still learn about families across the world but through pictures rather than heavy text. I liked that at the end of the book there was a section called “5 things to do with your grandparents”. The list includes celebrating the past, recording memories, playing together, planning an adventure and learning about your family. I think this is a nice touch to the book and allows readers to reflect on their own grandparents and culture. It is a nice tie between the book and the reader’s background and family. ( )

I thought this was a lovely book that celebrated both family and diversity. I enjoyed that the author began the book by showing multiple photographs of grandparents and grandchildren from different countries, and showing the reader how to say and pronounce "grandma" and "grandpa" in other languages (ex. Spanish, Hawaiian, Portuguese, etc.) I also enjoyed that the author chose to use photographs instead of illustrations. I think that this gives children a better real-world understanding of diversity, whereas using illustrations could leave the reader to his or her imagination. The author also provided a label of where the picture was taken to give readers a better sense of the different cultures. The main message of this non-fiction book was that no matter where we live, our grandparents care for us and we care for them. The relationship between a grandchild and grandparent is special no matter where in the world we come from. ( )