PRESCHOOL
MacLachlan, Patricia

When Grandfather Flew

(2) PS Illustrated by Chris Sheban. Siblings Emma, Aidan, and Milo adore their grandfather, an avid bird-watcher. Their grandmother had loved not birds but horses, so much so that she wanted to be a horse in her next life. "What will you be?" Emma asks Grandfather. "I'll let you know when the time comes," he replies. Milo, the youngest, doesn't talk much but has a special connection with Grandfather--he sees what Grandfather sees, hears what he hears, and learns about the birds he most loves, especially the "high-soaring bald eagle." When the children come home from school one day, Grandfather, whose health had been failing, is not there. Milo wonders, "But where is Grandfather?" He runs outside, just as a bald eagle soars above. "Grandfather flies!" exclaims the child. Sheban's watercolor, pastel, and graphite illustrations bring a fuzzily textured look to the pages, an appropriately soft treatment for a remembrance of a loved one. Text and illustrations interplay beautifully, as in the quiet image of a sad Milo being hugged when he discovers that Grandfather has gone. A sensitive portrayal of family, love, life, and death presented in a child-friendly manner.

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