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This girl’s grandma smells wonderful, cooks amazing doughnuts and knows how to make plants and flowers grow. Sometimes she repeats things, but her granddaughter doesn’t mind. Replete with striking images, the soft and atmospheric digitally enhanced watercolors sensitively portray the girl and her family, the garden and Grandma’s house. Tragedy quietly strikes when Grandma has to go into the hospital due to an unnamed medical event. She can’t recognize her family anymore, and she doesn't even smell right. All too quickly, Grandma dies. Many people offer their memories as Grandma’s house is being packed up, and Mama saves some treasures for her daughter, but it’s Grandma’s gardening gloves the girl wants. Can the girl show Mama what Grandma taught her about gardening so the two can create a garden together? The poetic, sensory and straightforward text strikes a nice balance, and the subtle, comforting ending finishes on a promise for the future. Affecting and realistic, with just the right amount of detail, this is a thoughtful, well-crafted description of a loved one’s death, especially appropriate for children undergoing a similar loss. (Picture book. 5-8)
