How to Babysit a Grandpa

February 15, 2012
Reagan's second outing is a tongue-in-cheek reversal of roles as a young boy instructs readers on how best to entertain and care for a grandpa while Mom and Dad are away. First, he instructs them to hide when Grandpa rings the doorbell--resist the wiggles and giggles, and only pop out when he gives up. Then, reassure him that Mom and Dad will be back and distract him with a snack--heavy on the ice cream, cookies, ketchup and olives. Throughout the day, the narrator takes his grandpa for a walk, entertains him, plays with him, puts him down for a nap and encourages him to clean up before Mom and Dad's return. Lists on almost every spread give readers a range of ideas for things to try, provided their grandfathers are not diabetic or arthritic, or have high blood pressure or a heart condition. These lists also provide Wildish with lots of fodder for his vignette illustrations. His digital artwork definitely focuses on the humor, with laugh-out-loud scenes and funny hidden details. And his characters' expressive faces also help to fill in the grandfather-grandson relationship that Reagan's deadpan narrative leaves unstated. A good choice for just those days when Mom and Dad do go away and leave their children in charge of Grandpa. (Picture book. 4-8)

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March 1, 2012

K-Gr 3-A boy's tips for babysitting a grandpa include hiding when he arrives; fixing snacks such as "anything dipped in ketchup"; looking for "lizards, cool rocks, and dandelion puffs" on walks; and so on. The endpapers have eight childlike drawings of child-grandparent interactions, and the book opens with a digitally rendered cartoonlike illustration of a spindly legged man sporting tufts of gray hair and carrying a small purple duffel bag. The parents leave, and the boy assures his grandfather, "Don't worry. They always come back," and the fun begins. In preparation for outdoor activities, the child advises bundling grandpa from head to toe in winter and slathering sunscreen on his bald head in summer. For indoor activities, "have him read a looooooooooong book" several times, guaranteed to put him to sleep. Of course, the house becomes quite messy and a hurried cleanup is in order before Mom and Dad return. The humorous illustrations include a snoozing grandpa with a meowing cat atop his head to wake him up. Youngsters will recognize some of the sayings they've heard from their own grandparents and will thoroughly enjoy the tongue-in-cheek role reversal.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2012
Preschool-G While his mom and dad are away, it's up to one young boy to supervise his visiting grandfather, and the first course of action is to hide. He employs several techniques to keep from laughing and giving away his location, which are captured in amusing, lightly colored digital artwork, as are recommendations for feeding one's elder deliciously unhealthy snacks (anything dipped in ketchup), taking him on a walk, entertaining him, waking him up from his nap (the best strategy is singing On Top of Old Smokey' softly, then LOUDER and LOUDER), and getting everything cleaned up before the parental units return. The biggest challenge is saying good-byebut only until the somewhat addled but great sport of a grandpa returns again. The scenarios are familiar yet there aren't many audiences who won't appreciate and relate to these two family members who clearly love each other and enjoy spending time together. So who is really in charge here? Does it matter?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)