COFFEE, RABBIT, SNOWDROP, LOST

A special relationship between grandfather and the grandchild he calls Stump changes as Grandpa slides into dementia.

The story gently and positively documents a very common Alzheimer's progression—from loss of words to loss of competence in many areas. Told in present tense by the young White narrator, whose real name we never learn, it moves from a time when Stump’s grandfather knew the Latin names of all the plants he cared for to a time when he could no longer do jigsaw puzzles or set the table and had lost interest in nearly everything. It’s the child who first notices changes. One night Grandpa wanders out alone in the snow, looking for the rabbit that was a childhood pet. Stump and her grandmother head out together to bring him home, beginning a new stage of caring for him, using familiar sensations to help him reminisce and engage. An afterword, aimed at adult readers, explains this process. The lengthy, relatively simple text, smoothly translated from the Danish by Køngerskov, rests atop cream-colored pages opposite full-bleed illustrations. Gouache pastels depict the cozy interior of the grandparents’ house, the lush flowers of the sunroom, and the cold gray of the snowy night of searching. Colorful at the beginning, the palette shrinks to grays as Grandpa’s depression and dementia set in; color returns with the positive ending.

Child-centered, accurate, and engagingly told.