Grandad's Camper (Grandad's Camper)

by Harry Woodgate (Author)

Grandad's Camper (Grandad's Camper)
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

"An effective tool for teaching empathy, and the intergenerational bond at the story's center is a heartstrings puller. This picture book, in which a girl helps her grandfather embrace life again following the death of Gramps, may well aid young readers in understanding others' grief." --Shelf Awareness

Discover a wonderful grandfather-granddaughter relationship, as a little girl hatches the perfect plan to get her Grandad adventuring again.

Gramps and Grandad were adventurers. They would surf, climb mountains, and tour the country in their amazing camper. Gramps just made everything extra special. But after Gramps died, Grandad hasn't felt like traveling anymore. So, their amazing granddaughter comes up with a clever plan to fix up the old camper and get Grandad excited to explore again. This beautiful picture book honors love and reminds us not only to remember those we have lost, but to celebrate them.

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$17.99

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Kirkus

Starred Review
This book deserves pride of place on any bookshelf, be it in a library, school, or home. As warm and friendly as a kind grandparent.

Publishers Weekly

A brown-skinned child with shoulder-length curls narrates a story focused on sharing grief and celebrating loved ones' lives in Woodgate's author-illustrator debut. The unnamed protagonist spends every summer at Grandad's seaside cottage, where their favorite activity is listening "as Grandad tells me about all of the amazing places he and Gramps would explore" in a pink camper. Grandad, who is white, relays beachside adventures, city visits, and other trips with brown-skinned Gramps before the narrator comes up with an idea to honor Gramps's memory. Woodgate layers colored pencil, marker, and crayon-esque textures with digital patterns and techniques, making for a kid-friendly style that also spotlights queer iconography, such as rainbow flags and reclaimed inverted pink triangles. If the book focuses more on the grandparents' relationship than the one between Grandad and child, this gentle intergenerational narrative encourages adults to disseminate family stories and traditions. Ages 3-6. (Apr.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-Gr 2--Before they were Grandad and Gramps, two young men, waving a rainbow flag from their pink VW bus, were a romantic couple, traveling the world--or at least Europe--together, camping under the stars. Grandad, white, and now balding, recounts their adventures to his young grandchild who hangs on every word. The grandchild, with long curls, is Black, as was Gramps, who has passed away. That child is inspired to help Grandad dust off the old camper/bus in the garage, give it a new blue stripe, change a tire, and start out for new adventures. Woodgate's explosively colorful scenes center most of the book on the men, with snapshot after snapshot of their loving life together. That leaves the child's role (and there is no mention of parents, or even that Grandad and Gramps had children) as brackets to the piece, only becoming an active part of the story at the end. 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. The book reflects on an aspect of mature gay life, a piercing sense of loss, and in the child, of the possibilities still to be found. VERDICT For the hope for new adventures, and the glimpse of intergenerational kindness and understanding, this lovely book should be on every shelf.--Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

An effective tool for teaching empathy, and the intergenerational bond at the story's center is a heartstrings puller. This picture book, in which a girl helps her grandfather embrace life again following the death of Gramps, may well aid young readers in understanding others' grief. - Shelf Awareness

Harry Woodgate
Harry Woodgate is the Stonewall Honor, British Book Award, and Waterstones Children's Book Prize award-winning author and illustrator of Grandad's Camper, Grandad's Pride, and Timid. Inspired by their university dissertation which revealed a lack of representation for older LGBTQIA+ characters in children's books, Grandad's Camper and Grandad's Pride lovingly portray queer elders. Harry writes and illustrates diverse, inclusive stories that inspire young readers to be inquisitive, creative, kind, and proud of what makes them unique.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781499811933
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Little Bee Books
Publication date
April 06, 2021
Series
Grandad's Camper
BISAC categories
JUV039030 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Death & Dying
JUV032170 - Juvenile Fiction | Sports & Recreation | Camping & Outdoor Activities
JUV060000 - Juvenile Fiction | LGBT
Library of Congress categories
Grandparent and child
Grandfathers
Voyages and travels
Gay men
Gays
Van life
Stonewall Book Award
Honor Book 2022
Future Classic Picture Books of 2021-- Bookstagang's Best of 2021
Best Illustrated Book -- Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2022

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