Grandma U (Written by: Jeanie Franz Ransom; Illustrated by: Lucy Corvino)

photo by basykes www.flickr.com

Reviewed by Margo Dill, www.margodill.com, margodll@aol.com

*Picture book for preschoolers through 2nd graders, contemporary
*Grandma as main character
*Rating: Many schools celebrate Grandparents’ Day, and Jeanie Franz Ransom has given us a delightful book with Grandma U to share with students about grandparents and families.

Short, short summary: Molly McCool is going to be a grandma! She’s excited, of course, but she’s also worried that she doesn’t know how to be a grandma. So, she has to go to Grandma U. At Grandma U, Mrs. Applebee, a grandmother of six, teaches her students about all the new gadgets for babies, how to hold grandchildren and change their diapers, ways to play with them, and even lessons on being a cyber granny. But Mrs. Applebee mentioned that she won’t be able to teach the grandmas the most important thing of all, but they will learn it. This totally confuses poor Molly; and she spends most of her time at Grandma U, trying to figure out what the most important thing of all is about being a grandma. Do you know what it is?

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Before Grandparents’ Day in the fall or any time you are having grandparents visit, read this book to your students or your children. Children love their grandparents, and they will love this book! Before you start reading, ask your students what they think grandparents have to know about taking care of their grandchildren. Record their answers. Ask students or your children what they think grandparents would learn at a grandparent university. Then read Jeanie Franz Ransom’s book to your students or your children. Compare their answers with what Molly learns in the book. Share your students’ or your children’s answers with their grandparents in a card, in a bulletin board display, or on a poster.

2. This is a great book to share with students when you are talking about families and communities in social studies. First, share Grandma U with your students or your children. Ask students to list the members of Molly’s grandbaby’s family and the community members that help Molly become a grandma and help the grandbaby come into the world. Then ask students to draw and write about their own families. You can also ask them to draw or write about a favorite place in their community, too.

3. Ask students to predict what they think the most important “thing” of all is that Molly needs to be a grandma before you read each page of her experiences at Grandma U. Ask students to explain their predictions, so they are also working on supporting their predictions with details from the story.

If you have used this book with your students or your children, please leave a comment and tell us what you did with Grandma U. For more activities about Grandparents’ Day, please see Education World.