The Remember Balloons

This book gave me chill bumps when I read it and that doesn’t happen often. The text is sparse but speaks volumes. It’s as warm and heart touching as it is heart wrenching. The warmth comes in the form of life’s wonderful memories that we carry with us. In this story it’s in the form of balloons. And Grandpa has more balloons than James and the rest of his family added together. James enjoys hearing Grandpa share all his awesome memories.

The heart wrenching part enters when Grandpa starts losing his balloons and James doesn’t know what to do. The ending will tug at your heartstrings, as it is a satisfying ending that will help little ones when their grandparents start to lose their memories. This is a must-have for everyone. show more

Favorite Lines-“And the stories he has in those balloons? They’re better than ponies and chocolate frosting.”

The illustrations included renderings in pencil, color pencil, ink, gouache, and Photoshop. The mostly black and white illustrations accentuate the colorful memory balloons. Wulfekotte illustrates Grandpa's memories in vivid colors too as they are alive and vivid recollections of his past. This adds another layer to the story. Memories dance through our mind with all the vivid colors the original experiences held. show less

Top 100 pick because:

A tear jerker for sure. A brilliant and inventive way to portray and explain illnesses like Alzheimer's or Dementia. The illustrations capture the narrative and tone of the book beautifully. A wonderful way to show memory loss, without taking away all hope. Using mostly black and wfite sketch illustrations, the pops of color from the balloons makes the story line all the more powerful.

This book describes a grandfather dealing with what is assumed to be Alzheimer’s and his grandson’s perception of his memories floating away like balloons. This book is one of the only picture books to actually bring tears to my eyes as I read it. I recommend this book for all elementary age students.

Read at the Carle

In a beautiful visualization of memories, everyone in this story carries around a bunch of balloons. Very young children don't have as many; grown-ups have lots. But Grandpa is starting to lose balloons...and others in the family take responsibility for holding onto the memories Grandpa shared.

See also: Birdsong by Julie Flett, A Map Into the World by Kao Kalia Yang

This is going to the perfect book for a lot of families during certain periods of their lives. I found it a little facile, and the illustrations far too static (esp. the faces).

I think this book would be good for primary and intermediate students, though some explanation may be needed.

This book tells about remember balloons, a physicalized idea of memories. It tells the story of a boy and his grandpa. They share their memories together, but as grandpa gets older, he starts to lose his balloons. This upsets the boy, but he begins to understand that memory loss if part of aging, and he begins sharing his stories to grandpa now.

I think this would be a great way to introduce the idea of memories and memory loss to students. This content could be difficult for some students, and they might struggle with their own emotions as they understand what might have happened to someone in their life or what may happen in the show more future. I think this would be best for a whole class setting with a teacher involved. show less

This book tells the story of a young boy who loves sharing stories represented by balloons with his grandpa. One day his grandpa starts to get stuck and tell the same story over and over, and eventually he loses his balloons. This story faces memory loss and ends it in a positive note, telling the little boy that he can now share his balloons with his grandpa. I would use this book if I know that a student is struggling with a family member suffering from memory loss