REALLY, GRANDDAD?

In this debut short story collection, a Canadian grandfather offers 50 family anecdotes.

Spanning the 1950s through the early ’70s, this heartwarming assemblage of memories stars the author himself—as a lovable but often mischievous boy—who ultimately matures into a responsible young man. Growing up in a military family, he had to relocate quite a bit, so these incidents take place in several rural Canadian locations—like Greenwood, Nova Scotia—as well as Marville, France. The stories are framed by italicized conversations between Sherrard and his granddaughter, Claire, whose love for hearing about Granddad’s life inspired him to write it down. Told with a friendly voice and easy-flowing, first-person prose, these anecdotes mostly conclude with a positive, uplifting moral. For example, during visits to his grandparents’ farm at haying time, the author learned the value of a work ethic. After disobeying a parent led to his sister’s getting injured, he realized that honesty was always the best policy. He also paints some touching portraits of colorful family members, like grandma Nanny, who doggedly taught him to read after a teacher had given up hope. Then there was his tough-as-nails father, who had a gentle side, too—he once bravely saved a skunk whose head was trapped in a glass jar. Even though this energetic compilation can be corny (there are plenty of winks and grins in Granddad and Claire’s conversations), many nostalgia lovers will enjoy Sherrard’s homespun humor and familiar situations. Who hasn’t heard a tale about a silly boy sticking his tongue on a freezing metal railing? And many people know how pesky—and ridiculously funny—those doggone gophers can be, especially when one chases the family dog. Complete with cute sketches by Dewitt and black-and-white family photographs, these mostly cheerful vignettes feel as comforting as old Reader’s Digest stories about glory days on the farm.

Sweet, sentimental slices of simpler times.