Something About Grandma
Age 4+
Picture Storybooks
On a first solo visit to her grandmother’s home outside Mexico City, a young girl discovers what makes Grandma so special in this enchanting and personal picture book.
At Grandma’s house, where Julia is staying without her parents for the first time, the breeze is sweet like jasmine. Mornings begin with sugared bread, and the most magnificent hot chocolate cures all homesickness. There’s something about this place . . . and about Grandma. Like how she can tell when Julia has been quietly picking limes from the garden. Or that she can see the future—and knows when Julia is about to fall off her bike. Or how she can journey back in time through the stories she tells. In the room where Julia’s mother grew up, her grandmother holds her in a warm embrace—an embrace that Julia will pass on to her family when her parents arrive with her new baby brother. With Tania de Regil’s heartfelt illustrations, incorporating poems by her great-grandfather that were handwritten by her grandmother, Something About Grandma offers a tender and playful exploration of the magic of intergenerational love and wisdom.
Creators
Tania de Regil, the author-illustrator of A New Home and the illustrator of We Really Do Care by Tami Lewis. She studied fashion design at Parsons School of Design in New York City before moving back to her native Mexico City, where she finished her degree. Something About Grandma is inspired by her own childhood memories of staying with her grandmother. Tania de Regil lives in Mexico City and travels to the United States frequently.
Reviews
Wisdom, love, and everyday magic bewitch a child of Mexican descent spending her first summer with her grandmother in author-illustrator de Regil’s timeless intergenerational tale. . . soothing washes of pink, blue, purple, and green evoke serenity, while Julia’s wide-eyed astonishment echoes the swept-away wonder of Studio Ghibli heroines. Gentle yet unforgettably moving, this story of the new becoming beloved lodges in the heart.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Straightforward text moves the narrative along smoothly, while whimsical and soft illustrations imbue the story with wonder; some pages have excerpts, in Spanish, from Grandma’s notebook layered softly in the background. Readers will emerge feeling just as calm as Julia. . . . A quiet book about the love between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
Kirkus Reviews
Tenderly illustrated, with pictures that include fragments of poems created by Tania de Regil’s great-grandfather and handwritten by her grandmother, this book is packed with the sights, smells and tastes of Mexico — and the joy of time spent with an “absolutely magical” grandma.
The Virginian Pilot
This tender intergenerational picture book, which also explores traveling, is beautifully illustrated in soft pastel hues. The entire book is like a big, much-needed hug.
Book Riot
