Something About Grandma

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. The summer that Julia’s mother is pregnant, Grandma arrives “from a long way away with a suitcase in hand” to take Julia to “a town cuddled against a great mountain”—her home outside Mexico City. There, at the end of “a cobblestone street... a pink bougainvillea crawled over a little old house.” From the gardens and flowers to the street vendors who pass by, “everything seemed different, and everything was new.” Generous white space frames sumptuous illustrations in watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, and digital collage; 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. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)