#389 - Bringing Back Grandpa
by Madhuri Kamat and illustrated by Niloufer Wadia
“Bringing Back Grandpa” by Madhuri Kamat and illustrated by Niloufer Wadia. Published by Duckbill. A heartwarming story of little Xerxes trying to cope with difficult situations at school as well as home.
Xerxes is facing difficulties in school almost every other day. He seems to misplace things or forget to do things. In such times his go to person is his mamavaji (grandpa). Somehow mamavaji can help him find some solution to most of his problems. But mamavaji is getting older and unwell most of the time. He seems to get confused always and is not his usual self more often than not. As usual Xerxes is egged on by his mother Sonji to excel in school which he is finding very hard to given the anxiety on his mind.
On one hand, Xerxes is worried as to what is happening to his mamavaji. School is not helping him either. Some of the boys in his class are playing all kinds of mean tricks on him. He is being taunted and bullied by them. He has no friends or allies to confide to or seek any kind of help from. His partner in everything, his mamavaji, is not himself any more. What can he do now? He can’t tell his parents too about his school problems as they are already worried about mamavaji and stressed. How can he cope with the different expectations that everyone around him have of him? Will he be able to find his footing in school at all? More importantly, can he do something at all to make his grandpa better? Read the book to find out all of these.
My 8.5 year old son and I loved reading this book. We had already read the prequel to this story, “Flying With Grandpa”, a couple of days ago. The story gently touches on themes of illness and old age while highlighting other important themes like bullying, empathy, friendship and kindness. The characters have been developed beautifully by the author and there is just the right amount of sadness, tension, tenderness, joy and trust in relationships which makes it so relatable. And the way everything gets handled in a realistic manner made us connect that much more to the story. The story gave us an opportunity to discuss about Alzheimer’s, bullying and empathy. Though my son says that he hasn’t seen bullying in school of the kind that Xerxes goes through, he felt bad for him and resolved to never let that happen to anyone around him. He realised the importance of opening up to someone while going through difficult times and trying to help others when they are being troubled by others even if they haven’t asked to be helped explicitly. He now wants an extension of the story and hopes that a third book will come :) He just couldn’t get over the fact that we had finished reading the book. He had made us buy both these books at a pop up in his nursery school by Funky Rainbow which is one of our favourite independent bookstores.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 7 and above.
Reasons to Read
The themes of bonding between a child and his grandfather as well as the customs of the Parsi community are revisited in this book too like the first one.
In addition to the above, the important topics such as bullying, empathy, problems of old age, illness, kindness, supportiveness and being there for someone who needs help are treated sensitively and beautifully in the book.
Where to buy from?
An independent bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.