Grandpa Monty’s Muddles

A fluent, witty translation gives U.S. audiences a passport to a particularly fine entry in the Alzheimer’s subgenre, first published in Spain. Seven-year-old Oscar explains that his family wasn’t sure Grandpa Monty was really ill, at first: “Mom thought he was doing it to get our attention.” But it quickly becomes clear that something is seriously wrong. “[A] lot of the things he says and does make him look like a little kid,” is all Oscar will say; Díez fills in the blank with a painting of Grandpa Monty drinking the water from a flower vase. Both collaborators capture the situation’s odd mixture of comedy (Grandpa Monty, a Yodalike presence in his stature and demeanor, tries to stick a key into the knot of a tree and plays basketball with a pumpkin) and tragedy. “[L]ittle by little, he seems to forget which words to use,” Oscar says. Oscar helps Grandpa Monty by tutoring him in the subjects he’s studying in school, demonstrating that there’s a place for a child to contribute. Proof that an issue book doesn’t have to be prissy. Ages 7–9. (Oct.)