Grandad's Camper: A picture book for children that celebrates LGBTQIA+ families

Product Information

This is an important text in terms of the representation of LGBTQIA+ relationships and portraying different family structures. Harry Woodgate (they/them) is a multi-award-winning author and illustrator, whose debut picture book Grandad’s Camper won the British Book Awards Nibbie for Children's Illustrated Book of the Year and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, was shortlisted for the Polari Prize, and named as an ALA Stonewall Honor Book. Caregivers, especially older ones, may see this book as an opportunity to talk about departed loved ones and introduce their happy memories to a younger generation-many a family will find themselves pulling out photo albums to relate their own origin stories. Discover a wonderful grandfather-granddaughter relationship, as a little girl hatches the perfect plan to get her Grandad adventuring again.

For the hope for new adventures, and the glimpse of intergenerational kindness and understanding, this lovely book should be on every shelf. Still, there is a wholesome gentility to every page, of enjoying every minute, even in memory, of growing sweet cherries in the garden, and of filling a home with mementos and stories.Roo loves staying with her grandfather in his cottage by the sea and enjoys listening to his wonderful stories. Woodgate's explosively colorful scenes center most of the book on the men, with snapshot after snapshot of their loving life together. The children begin the sequence of learning by exploring a dusty memory box from the attic which contains objects linked to Grandad’s memories of his time in the campervan with Gramps. While there, the protagonist, who narrates, and their grandfather play the usual games and do the usual activities, but Grandad also tells stories about how he and Gramps, a man of color who is now deceased, met and fell in love while traveling in an old VW microbus. Inspired by these tales, the narrator encourages Grandad to fix up the van, and the two take it for a road trip to the beach.

Grandad, white, and now balding, recounts their adventures to his young grandchild who hangs on every word.A touching tale about a girl’s relationship with her grandfather, which also evokes the wildness and beauty of the coast. This is a quiet story that speaks volumes, and astute educators and storytellers will be able to use the book in both intimate storytimes and with larger groups. There are some fine picture books out there revolving around a child's experience of loss, but there aren't many designed to help kids understand someone else's grief.