GRANDMAS ARE GREATER THAN GREAT

Witnesses in turn to wagon trains west, the first streetlight, the Great Depression, and World War II, the generations give way to Woodstock’s wild child and social media maniacs.

Regardless of when in time one happens to browse, a grandmother is making sure the next generations are happy and whole. The narration unfolds in a second-person address, so eight greats in the past has “your” ancestor cruising the 1700s. Five greats back finds “your” three-steps-nearer forebear in a one-room schoolhouse in the 1800s. Three greats has her feet planted in the early 1900s. And finally, the latest in a line of grinning wonders (all White-presenting) is smiling out into the 21st century. Solheim takes a 250-year-long trek to illustrate the generational chain that ends with a young mother and her daughter. However, his chronology doesn’t quite mesh with the narrative. “You” are the young hippie’s grandchild, newborn child of the baby she took to Woodstock in 1969. Yet “your” youthful-looking mother must be in her 40s as she holds a swaddled-up “you,” with “your” ex-hippie grandma and other relatives snapping pics on their smartphones. This is not the only extreme generational step. Desierto’s colorful collage images are also out of sync with the narrative. A family with only one bowl to their name has a tablecloth, a pitcher, and a matching cup? A concluding page presents a chart illustrating the number of grandmas that converge in a single person. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

For a story that places its emphasis on the exponential math of doubling generations, the facts don’t add up.