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GRANDMA U by Jeanie Franz Ransom

GRANDMA U

by Jeanie Franz Ransom & illustrated by Lucy Corvino

Pub Date: Sept. 1st, 2002
ISBN: 1-56145-214-9
Publisher: Peachtree

Though the punch line in Ransom’s story of a grandma’s formal education in grandmahood is groaningly predictable, the buffed and cheery illustrations elevate what is essentially a picture book for grandmothers. Molly McCool has a case of the shim-shams as she anticipates the arrival of her grandchild. She’s forgotten how to be around babies, so she enrolls in Mrs. Applebee’s course: Grandma University. She gets reacquainted with the basics of reading stories over and over and shooting down the slide over and over. She also learns about disposal diapers (“They hold as much as Lake Erie,” notes Mrs. Applebee. “Which means you might not even know the baby’s wet . . . until the diaper explodes. KA-BLAM!”). And she gets a crash course in computers (where by the end of the lesson the grandmas are designing web pages, which truly makes Mrs. Applebee a miracle worker). But of course none of these are the most important thing of all, something no school can teach, something the grandmas already know all about. Kids might get a chuckle out of the baby doll whose head falls when Molly forgets to give it enough support, and the diaper episode is good gross fun, but the reading level for this item really ought to be 50. (Picture book. 4-7)