Review by Booklist Review
The message here is both simple and profound: that actions and attention are love. The young reader is told at the outset that even if a grandpa doesn't say I love you in the regular way, he communicates it regardless. The bearers of this message are a variety of animal grandfathers and grandchildren, including squirrels, turtles, panda bears, hippos, seals, frogs, and porcupines. All of them are engaged in togetherness activities that never tip into oversentimentality and are, quite often, humorous. For example, a senior panda teaches a cub how to wink, a frog grandpa shows a little one the disco dance moves of his youth, a zebra grandpa has his grandson try to teach him a computer game, and so forth. A brown-bear grandpa and grandkid establish a beginning-and-end continuity, the former reading to the latter Goldilocks and the Three Bears at bedtime. Bell's affable pencil illustrations are soft hued and warmhearted, making this a very cozy package.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Showing love can be much more powerful than expressing it in words. Whether a granddad is teaching, sharing, watching, cheering, or keeping a child safe, it's important to understand that those activities reveal how deeply he cares. A variety of grandfather/grandchild scenarios, including squirrels, pandas, koalas, hippos, and owls all reveal the same thing: Grandpas love their grandchildren and communicate their love in a multitude of ways. Holding hands on a walk, teaching shoelace tying, showing and sharing a coin collection, playing old and new games, and dancing and reading together are a few of the examples displayed in Bell's joyful, softly hued pencil illustrations. With an "actions speak louder than words" theme, the grandfathers depicted here speak volumes and confirm the importance of spending quality time with their grandchildren. Similar in tone to the author's When a Dad Says "I Love You" (S. & S., 2013), this charming title celebrates intergenerational relationships.-Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Without saying the words, different animal grandpas express love for their grandchildren in many ways: tousling hair, winking, tying shoelaces, or "teaching you to throw a super-duper, screaming yellow zonker sinker ball." Rendered in pencil and finished digitally, cozy vignettes and double-page spreads highlight the special relationships between grandfathers and their grandchildren in this sentimental story. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
"When a Grandpa says I love you,' / he doesn't always say it / in the regular way. / That would be just a little tooregular."Wood and Bell's follow-up to When a Dad Says "I Love You" (2013) features anthropomorphic grandpa-kid pairs of animals demonstrating all the various unregular ways grandpas can say "I love you." They might try to teach you to wink, though it usually only results in a blink. They might repeatedly teach you to tie your shoes. He might say it "by buying you / a double-scoop ice-cream cone / on a hot summer day. / And then by helping you eat it / if it melts too fast." He might teach you to throw a special pitch or pretend to love your tea at a tea party. He might teach you to play old-fashioned games like checkers or try to learn a newfangled game on the computer. "But most of all, a grandpa says / I love you' just by being // Your grandpa!" This appealingbut free of saccharineexploration of that special intergenerational relationship would be great for Grandparents Day or just an "I love you" storytime. Bell's softly smudgy, crosshatched pencil illustrations show animal grandpas and kids in a bounty of recognizable, everyday situations.It's hard not to love this onejust like an indulgent grandpa. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
