Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit

by Yanting Gueh

"There's a fickle stream in Grandma's head
Trickling, thrashing, dark and cold.
Thoughts that fill her world are hard to hold."


En's grandma is losing her hold on clear thoughts and memories. It is a scary and lonely place. So En sails out to bring Brightness from their past and releases them to relight Grandma's world. Will Grandma remember them?

{A picture ebook}

32 pages, ebook

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[Anne Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claudine Gueh has a magical touch, poetic and surreal, a very unusual style for picture book texts. Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit deals with the difficult topic of watching an elderly relative slip away mentally. But with Gueh's sense of wonder, peace, and optimism, the little girl in the story---and therefore the reader---can focus on the joyous memories still remaining in the old woman's heart.

The intensely colored folkart-style drawings by Cruel Hashbrown (an artists' collective) make you feel like you're swirling inside memory itself.

Have tissues nearby. This book is gloriously bittersweet.

[Patricia Kemp Blackmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful rhyming story of a child trying to understand what is happening to her Grandma. The little girl, En notices that her grandma does not remember many of the stories she use to share with her and her family. What can she do to bring her grandma's memories back. She sets out in her small boat to light a lantern over the water to find answers of her grandma's memory.

This story brought me to tears. My dad suffered from dementia. I could feel this En's pain, her wanting her grandmother to have her memory back. All we can do is remember the stories they have shared with us along with the days we have spent with them and pass those memories on to others. Sometimes if you talk to the person with memory loss you can see a spark of memory that then fades away like a light fading slowly waiting to go out.

Carry Their Memories With You!

I applaud my friend and author, Claudine Gueh in writing such a wonderful endearing story. This story will help children and adults to endure with patience any adult with memory loss. You may even learn something very important about their past "That fickle stream within their head...", I did with my father.

I highly recommend this book!!

I rated this book a 5+ out of 5.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Carry Us Off Book/Claudine Gueh for review. I was in no compensated for this review. This review is my honest opinion.

[Angela Lambkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose to give this book five stars for such a great book for sharing with little ones why their grandma or grandpa cannot
share their old stories or perhaps forgetting how to read or forgetting many other things they once knew! I liked it! I thought it was very thoughtfully and lovingly explained and easy hopefully for the very young to grasp this idea of their grandparent not being all they once were! I recommend this book for parents to read and show these pictures to their very young who are worried and confused about how their loved ones are or have have changed from what they once knew these older folks were
and are not the same anymore. I received this book free and in exchange I have done this review that she said she would
like for me to do and post for all you future readers and viewers alike! You did a great job with the story and the illustrations in
this book and have done in past books that I have already read and reviewed! By Angela

[Ruth Schiffmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Brightness Sailors Bit by Bit, when her grandma’s thoughts become hard to hold, a little girl sets off to share bits of brightness from her world to relight her sky. “Sugar bits sprinkled like a golden kiss in her coffee, on my toast, family meals were when she beamed the most.”

Reminded that they still share the same love, the young girl offers to help see her grandma through by sharing her memories and lighting her way.

This book tackles the tough subject of watching a loved one forget, but it does so with a delicate hand, beautiful words, and tender emotions. Throughout, Claudine has infused her words and the story with hope. The book is simply illustrated in bold colors, which fits nicely with the emotion of the story.

[Jessica Haight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brightness Sailors: Bit by Bit by Gueh Yanting, Claudine is a wonderful story. The whimsical words and powerfully simple illustrations will take you on a journey into the open space inside where we simply allow the churning waters of our minds to flood and flow. On that infinite shore, we can rest in the ripples of life's wake and enjoy the beauty and joy of just being here with each other. ~ Jess

[Katie Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claudine Gueh Yanting's lyrical style is soothing and lovely. This is the second children's book of hers that I've read with my daughters, and they loved it as much as I did. As with in her first book, My Clearest Me, the illustrations are entirely unique and captivating. Besides this, it's a fantastic "conversation" starter for families dealing with the gradual loss of a loved one.