Working his way through the family one member at a time, Parr gives pre-readers a positive spin on the role of Grandpas. Some put extra money in your piggybank or extra marshmallows in your hot chocolate, some will take you to school or let you try on their glasses, some live with a grandma or “with their friends”—i.e., in elder housing—but all like to tell stories, to make you laugh, to hold and hug you. Illustrated with noseless but smiling, very simply drawn figures, set off by thick outlines from bright monochrome background fields, this not only presents Grandpas in a wide variety of looks and situations (not to mention skin colors like purple and green), it conveys a direct invitation to “be sure to tell them how much you love them.” Published simultaneously with The Grandma Book (ISBN: 0-316-05802-5), which shares the same message as well as some of the same text and images. (Picture book. 2-4)
