Come Back, Grandma

by Sue Limb

Bessie and her grandmother spend many hours together before her grandmother passes away, and years later, when Bessie has a daughter of her own, she is able to share the happy memories.

1 pages, Hardcover

First published July 27, 1993

Reviews

[Savannah-Alicia Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A touching and hard hitting book. I stumbled across it in the library whilst looking for another book and I'm glad I did!

Bessie loves playing with her grandma but one day grandma gets ill and dies. Bessie misses grandma and all her games. She misses her green speckled eyes like birds eggs, bendy thumbs and the crinkle at the top of her nose. Then, Bessie grows up and has her own daughter. She names her Rose. When Rose grows, she has green speckled eyes like birds eggs, bendy thumbs and a crinkle at the top of her nose. Rose also tames birds like grandma...

There are a lot of children's books about death but this one really hits home - we all have older people in our life that we're afraid to lose one day. Puts everything into perspective. This book allows children to understand loss of a loved one and learn to cope with grief. It not only touches on these hard hitting subjects but also sends the message that our late loved ones are among us within nature and all around us.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's cute, but extremely depressing!! I cried...even though it's a children's book.

[Sarah Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

No one has time for Bessie apart from her Grandma, who she adores. But, when Grandma dies things suddenly change. I found that Grandma was suddenly gone- the writer is quite abrupt 'but one day Grandma got ill and died'. Perhaps though, this is a clever way of the author depicting the fact that sometimes death is sudden and unexpected. The book would be good to use with a child who is dealing with bereavement- particularly of a grandparent. It illustrates that feeling sad and alone is a normal part of bereavement and that it is okay to not be okay. It also shows the importance of finding joy in the little things, and that certain events in life can change things positively. It is a beautiful reminder of the sadness and happiness of real life, and would be comforting to a child struggling emotionally for them to know that how they are feeling is going to change- they are not going to always feel the same pain.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that discusses the loss of a grandparent. It talks about different ideas of where grandma might be now so it might get children talking if something similar has happened to them. It has a feeling of acceptance at the end.