If My Moon Was Your Sun: with CD Audiobook and Musicby Andreas Steinhofel, Nele Palmtag (Illustrations)

Hardcover, 80 pages
Expected publication: November 1st 2017 by Plough Publishing House
5 Stars

Synopsis: Did you hear the story about Max, the boy who kidnapped his grandfather from a nursing home ? You didn’t see it on the news? Well, let me tell you about it.

Max lives in a small town, much smaller than yours. His grandpa is losing his memory, but still remembers quite a bit. You can imagine how they hurried, Max and his grandpa, followed by old Miss Schneider, who insisted on coming along. Why were they in a hurry? Because everyone was after them. Max had skipped school to rescue his grandpa, and they were just starting out on what promised to be one of the best days of their entire lives.

A touching story about dementia and the special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, with full-color illustrations and a read-along CD audiobook featuring twelve classical pieces for children by Georges Bizet and Sergei Prokofiev.

My Review: What a wonderful story. Max and his grandfather have a very special relationship, but his grandfather is in a nursing home and has the “Great Forgetting”. Max does not want him to live so far away, he thinks he will never see him, so one day he skips school and heads to the Nursing Home. He is going to kidnap his grandfather and take him to his “Happy Place”. The big problem is that another resident sneaks out with them. They head off to the meadow where Grandfather and Max lie looking at the sun and Mrs. Schneider dances.

This book evokes such extreme emotions. I smiled during the dancing bits and almost cried during the spots where grandfather does The Great Forgetting. There is a point in the book where Max mentions a fear he has and it caused me to feel overwhelmingly emotional. His grandfather’s explanations is wonderful and easy for children to understand. I did not receive the audio CD with this book from Netgalley, but went out to youtube and found the musical accompaniment. Amazing match to the story. This could be a silent movie using the wonderful illustrations and the music.

This story could be read and enjoyed by anyone from about age 6 and up. The family bond and love, understanding dimentia or alzheimers, fear of losing a loved one and understanding of seniors are all dealt with in a compassionate, emotional way. I will need to purchase the book with the CD for my library at home. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.