TRAVELS WITH MY GRANNY

Granny and grandchild travel by sharing her memories.

Adventurous, much-traveled Granny “can’t remember yesterday, but she knows all about the world.” The narrator cheerfully says: “That’s fine with me. I can remember yesterday myself. But I need my granny to take me travelling.” The child wisely realizes that grown-ups (likely the peripatetic woman’s offspring) think something is wrong. “The grown-ups say Granny is confused and doesn’t know where she is. But I think she knows exactly where she is. It just isn’t where the grown-ups are.” Granny luckily still lives surrounded by objects collected on her travels. The armchair travelers go far. Full-bleed, double-page spreads painted in intense colors and in Corr’s signature charming, naïve style show the duo in Delhi, Rome, Jerusalem, London, New York, and elsewhere. All of these places and more are pointed out on the back endpaper map, where Granny’s souvenirs appear in a matching activity. There’s also a note about dementia directed at adults. Unfortunately, the visual imagery includes many international tropes, such as the safari in an unnamed African country and copious Orientalism in the depiction of Delhi. Labeling of specific sites is scattershot. Granny and her family present white.

Despite these missteps, children need to cherish their grandparents, who may develop dementia, and this picture book tackles that issue effectively.