Review: My Singing Nana

My Singing Nana
Author: Pat Mora
Illustrator: Alyssa Bermudez
Magination Press
Ages: 4-8 years old

But Billy’s Nana is starting to have a hard time remembering things, and Billy is worried about the performance.

In her Author Note, Pat Mora says “Families savor happy memories.” How true. This colorful, tender picture book recalled so many happy memories for me of my mother’s relationship with my children, and the bond they all cherished. I wish I had owned My Singing Nana when my children were small, because Mora, along with illustrator Alyssa Bermudez, does a beautiful job helping young children cope with a loved one’s dementia.

Billy and his Nana share a special connection. They bake together, and put on shows together. Billy’s Nana directs, and Billy and his siblings perform. But Billy’s Nana is starting to have a hard time remembering things, and Billy is worried about the performance.

Billy, sometimes your Nana forgets things, but we help each other, don’t we? I ask you your spelling words, and you help me remember things.

There is so much to love about this book: the straightforward prose, the honest response to a child’s questioning, the colorful illustrations, the way Nana is a person first, and a person suffering from dementia second…and above all, the way the special relationship between a grandchild and a beloved grandparent is captured on the page. I savored many, many happy memories reading it.



My Singing Nana (Support an Independent Bookstore)
My Singing Nana (Hardcover at Amazon)*

More books for this Age Group can be found here.

My thanks to Magination Press for providing a Review Copy of this book. All opinions provided herein are my own.

Please, leave comments! I love a HEALTHY exchange of ideas. After all, critical thinking is essential to life.

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