For Your Reading Pleasure...

Imagine a member of your family has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Think about how challenging and complex life will be for your loved one and family. Now imagine yourself as a child trying to understand why a relative is acting differently.

What’s Happening to Grandpa?, written by journalist and California’s famous first lady Maria Shriver, is a touching story about a family learning to cope with Alzheimer’s disease. Shriver challenges readers to look at Alzheimer’s through the eyes of a child. She invites us to think about how children and adults react to the effects of this heart-breaking disease.

Shriver’s new book is a story about Kate, a young girl who adores her caring grandparents. Every Sunday Kate visits them and loves listening to Grandpa’s stories about baseball, his trips to Europe, and his life with Grandma. But one Sunday, Grandpa begins to repeat his stories and asks Kate the same questions over and over. Something is wrong. Kate soon learns from her mother that Grandpa is suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Saddened and confused, Kate curiously asks questions about both her Grandpa and the disease. Kate’s mother urges her to “keep on loving and respecting Grandpa the way we always have.” Determined to help her Grandpa, Kate puts together a photo album and offers to chronicle Grandpa’s stories about each photo. Kate’s gift brings joy to her Grandpa and also helps keep his memories alive.

Building from her own father’s struggles with Alzheimer’s, Shriver truly captures the important aspects of coping with Alzheimer’s disease. Through children’s literature, Shriver emphasizes that Alzheimer’s affects even the youngest members of our families. She stresses that if children understand the disease, they can better understand the effects of Alzheimer’s and help its sufferers.

Shriver encourages readers to communicate with their loved ones about Alzheimer’s. She urges families not to be afraid to discuss the disease. Using Kate’s conversations with family and friends, Shriver provides readers young and old with dialogue they can emulate in their own lives. As an added benefit, Shriver gives her readers a list of resources they can access when coping with Alzheimer’s disease.

Whether you’re dealing with the difficulties of Alzheimer’s or have children in need of comfort, What’s Happening to Grandpa? is an uplifting story that appeals to readers of all ages.

Do you have a book you’d like to recommend to the elder and caregiving community? We’d like to hear about it. Please e-mail us at books@mves.org.