SOMETIMES IT’S GRANDMAS AND GRANDPAS

“We cuddle a lot together, Nonnie and me. / Sometimes / it’s ’cuz morning comes too soon / and I’m still sleepy...” A little girl enumerates the conditions under which she and her loving grandmother and grandfather cuddle: before she goes to school, when she comes home, when they read a book together that features a child with her Daddy or Mommy—“ ’Cuz sometimes it’s Nonnies and Poppys / that take care of / baby girls and big girls and / baby boys and big boys, / not Mommies and Daddies.” The brief, simple text avoids any exploration of why she lives with her grandparents, although the narrator does wonder why her Mommy doesn’t tuck her in. The rise in grandparent-led families is one largely ignored in picture books, and this well-meaning effort makes a creditable stab at filling a niche. The irritatingly precious reiteration of “ ’cuz” and Haverfield’s no-more-than-adequate watercolor illustrations keep this effort firmly among the ranks of bibliotherapy—but it will serve the purpose till better treatments come along. (author’s note, Internet resources) (Picture book. 3-6)