This meme was started by Rae Longest at Powerful Women Readers, but as she is busy with her bookstore, she is no longer posting on her blog. I hope some of you will join in and post those reviews of children’s or middlegrade books on Saturdays. As I am a grandmother, who loves to read to her grandchildren, a mother who loved to read to and with her children, and a retired teacher librarian, this meme is right up my alley.

Last weekend, I had my youngest grandchild stay over and we read several family related books together. He is 5, and he enjoyed all of these books. All of the books were provided by Netgalley, and these are our honest thoughts and comments.

When Grandmas Cook: In the Kitchen with Grandmas, Nonnas, and Abuelas by Margot Mustich, Alette Straathof (Illustrator)

Expected Publication November 5th 2024 by duopress

5 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When Grandmas cook is a multi-cultural book sharing relationships and food. Grandmas from around the world invite their grandchildren into their kitchens to share the preparation of favourite foods. There are grandmas from the United States, Mexico, Italy, India, Nigeria, Brazil, South Korea, and more preparing dishes such as chicken soup, tamales, pasta, and borscht. In his family he has a Grandma, and a Nonna so we talked about what our favourite things to make might be. He thought mine was probably cookies because I do bake a lot and his Nonna’s was pasta. We enjoyed the illustrations by Alette Straathof. They are a bit whimsical with bright colours and large images showing emotions. I liked that this is a multi-generational story, with cooking as an activity. Kids can learn so much while cooking and spending time with grandparents is always a treat, for both of them. We definitely enjoyed this one. We read the kindle edition, but it is available to purchase as a board book.

Why We Need Grandsons (Always in My Heart) by Gregory E. Lang, Lisa Alderson (Illustrator)

Published March 5th 2024 by Sourcebooks Wonderland

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Why We Need Grandsons is part of the Always in My Heart series. This was a perfect book to share with my grandson, letting him know how special he is and how much I love him. Each two page spread has a beautiful illustration of an adult animal and a young one representing a grandparent and grandson doing something together, then there is a 4 line text corresponding to it. There are bears, puppies, octopi, and even platypuses. They are playing, swimming, observing others and sometimes just sitting quietly together. The illustrations are large, colourful and full of life and we spent a lot of time talking about them. The text is in four line stanzas with three lines rhyming and the last not, which is fine, but often the cadence was off, which made me stumble a bit when reading aloud. Overall this is a gorgeous book with a wonderful message of love and spending time together. A wonderful gift for that young grandson in your life.

My Grammie’s House by Lana Button, Skye Ali (Illustrator)

Expected publication September 3, 2024 by Tundra Books

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Grammie’s House is the story of a grandchild sharing memories of their Grammie’s house with prospective buyers. It is from a child’s point of view so it shows them the best place to eat cookies, a secrets spot for a clubhouse, a climbing tree etc. I loved the scene with the soup cans and exercising in front of the TV. We even see what kind of cereal she ate and where her cat slept. There were a couple of times that I was teary, wondering what happened to Grammie, and when my grandson asked me, I had to respond with maybe she just moved. Of course I had to reassure him that I wasn’t moving anytime soon, and he was happy to hear that as he is looking forward to summer when they spend time here sleeping, swimming etc. The illustrations are interesting. They have the people and a couple of items in colour, then line drawings of things that might have been there when Grammie lived there. I thought that added to the story. The ending showed the child riding by and promising to visit as he/she lived nearby. This was a cute story and would be a good one to help children deal with their grandparents’ house being sold to someone new.

Why We Need Teachers (Always in My Heart) by Gregory E. Lang, Lisa Alderson (Illustrator)

Published May 2nd 2023 by Sourcebooks Wonderland

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Why We Need Teachers is part of the Always in My Heart series, showing relationships and appreciation for others. I liked that this book shows the wonderful relationships between children and their teachers, coaches, mentors and even their parents. The book shares things we learn including social skills and that some things are harder to learn than others. Once again, animal pairs are used in the illustrations. I love all the images of teaching, sharing and kindness that is demonstrated. The animals are large and colourful and we talked about them as well. My grandson didn’t know all of them (eg. otters) so he learned a few new animals as well. Although this is not a family relationship like most of the books in this series, teachers spend more time with our children than some parents do, and when I taught, I was often called mom, accidentally. The text with it’s four line stanzas had some great rhymes and an easy cadence for reading aloud. I can see this book being gifted to teachers, especially family members who are in that field.

I think I saved the favourite one for the last.

How to Catch a Mamasaurus (How To Catch) by Alice Walstead, Andy Elkerton (Illustrator)

Published March 5th 2024 by Sourcebooks Wonderland

5 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

How to Catch a Mamasaurus is part of the “How To Catch” series of 30 books. This one is a little different, as instead of the main story being about planning and building traps, the group of children make gifts and things to say thank-you to their mother. This is a great Mother’s Day gift. The children share all the things that their mamasaurus has done for them such as fulfilling their dreams, playing with them, putting them to bed and kissing them goodnight, going shopping, preparing meals, leaving them little notes etc. I loved the list of jobs that mamasaurus does, it is packed, but right on the mark. The kids still create a few traps, and make big messes, showing imagination, creativity and co-operation. They can’t wait to tell her and show her that they love her. As a mom and grandma, I loved this book. It shows how much mothers do for their children in a fun, humorous and creative way. My grandson loved the kids, and the messes they made. We talked about the various jobs a mother does and he finally agreed with some of them, but the doctor was one he couldn’t agree with, nurse, okay. The illustrations by Andy Elkerton was wonderful and add so much to the story. I think my grandson liked those more than the story as he spent a lot of time checking them out and showing me things he noticed. I am going to buy a copy of this book for him to give his mother for her upcoming birthday.