A Plan for Pops

February 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-Lou visits Grandad and Pops every Saturday, and each week, the boy joins them in their unique ways of celebrating the day. Grandad likes reading the news and creating inventions with Lou, while Pops enjoys rock-and-roll videos and creating interesting culinary concoctions. Lou is happy, until one day Pops has a bad fall and must use a wheelchair. He begins to act less like himself, worrying Lou and Grandad. Together they create an idea to make Pops feel better and to enjoy one another's company once more. Smith has created a heartwarming story about family relationships and how to help loved ones through difficult transitions. Each of the adults helps Lou understand the world a bit better, and Lou himself struggles with his emotions before creating a perfect solution. The story is consistent with the French language edition, with only a few cultural sound effects and expressions changing between languages. The text is legible and simple, with no difficult vocabulary, and is assisted beautifully by Kerrigan's artful illustrations. Each picture provides little details that let readers better understand the personalities of Lou, Grandad, and Pops. They also assist the story greatly by expressing some complex emotions through drawing, especially after Pops falls and life changes. VERDICT A beautiful and uplifting book to help children learn how to handle challenges and help others; a great choice for intergenerational picture book shelves.-Margaret Kennelly, iSchool at Urbana-Champaign, IL

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2018
Lou visits Grandad and Pops every Saturday and learns a lot from their radically alternative interests, until an accident disrupts the family's happy routine.Grandad likes learning how things work, and Pops enjoys the spicier things in life. Lou continually goes between them, equally validating their perspectives. Once Pops is asleep after listening to rock-and-roll, Lou and Grandad work on perfecting their (unnamed) Rube Goldberg machine that produces an aerial burst of paper cranes. One Saturday, Pops, already frail, suffers a fall, after which he must permanently use a wheelchair. Over the following weeks, Lou takes up the mission of getting a depressed Pops to come out of his room. Smith conscientiously relates how "the three Ps--perseverance, persistence and patience"--apply to many aspects of life. Kerrigan's digital art couples quick pencil outlines with gentle and colorful watercolor washes, subtly mirroring the two grandparents' personalities. Facial expressions and body language convey mood well. On the page turn when Pops falls, Kerrigan utilizes minimalism to successfully convey the incident and the sharp emotion it elicits. The ending is happily resolved but abrupt. Rachel Martinez's translation for the companion French edition, Une idée pour Papi, is mostly verbatim but edits to two Ps, "la persévérance et la patience," forgiven perhaps with the three words' similar meanings, even in English. Granddad presents black and both Pops and Lou present white.A positive and realistic representation of both a wheelchair user and an elderly, interracial gay male couple. (Picture book. 3-8)

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