This book is about a little boy who has a grandmother and great grandmother that live together. Because the great grandmother is always upstairs in bed, he calls her nana upstairs and calls his grandmother nana downstairs. He loves both of his nanas and tries to be just like them. His nana upstairs passes away and his mother explains death to him. He grieves and when he sees a shooting star, his mother tells him that it is from nana upstairs. When nana downstairs grows old and dies, he sees another shooting star. Since they are both in Heaven, he says that they are now both nana upstairs.

This book is good for all elementary school age children. It teaches them about the important of respecting and caring for the elderly. It makes getting old seem like a natural part of life. It has easy words but contains more than one sentence on each page. The hardest words are upstairs and downstairs. I would have this book in my classroom.
http://www.tomie.com/about_tomie/inde...
The site contains a biograghy as well as a way to contact tomie and some of his artwork! ( )

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: Primary, Intermediate
Media: Watercolor

I think this is a great book, well written, fun characters and a good message attached. This is an example of realistic fiction because it is based on real people and their dealing with the loss of a loved one. This is a situation that many people have to encounter in their lives, and this book could lead to some good discussion. ( )

Tommy loves his grandmother and great-grandmother and enjoys spending time with both of them: his "upstairs" grandmother who is too old and weak to use stairs, and his "downstairs" grandmother who cooks the family dinners. But when grandmother "upstairs" (great-grandmother) dies, he struggles to understand that she is gone. Tear-jerker alert!

About a grandmother and mom who spend time with a little boy ( )