Reviews

"Love and reassurance fill these pages--along with the sadness of loss and knowledge that there is more to come."Publishers Weekly

"Upbeat, but also sensible and perceptive."Kirkus Reviews

Gr 1-3-- Zach's summer visit with his grandparents takes an unexpected turn when he learns that his grandfather has Alzheimer's disease. Gramps tells him that it's time to start a special box to store their family tales and traditions. As the visit progresses, punctuated by several episodes of the illness, Zach and his grandparents reminisce and fill their memory box with mementos of past times together. At the end of his stay, Zach leaves hugging the box, where he will store his memories from the coming year to share with his Gramps and Gram next summer. The bittersweet text is beautifully written, conveying the tender relationships through the young boy's believable narrative. Cunningham's gouache illustrations are lovely, radiating the tranquil peace of the lake, house, and surrounding woods. Simple books on Alzheimer's disease are scarce; Judy Delton's My Grandma's in a Nursing Home (Albert Whitman, 1986), which focuses on a child adjusting to nursing home visits as well as to the illness, is another noteworthy example. However, The Memory Box depicts the early stages of the disease in more detail and offers an imaginative suggestion for positive action. A moving, sympathetic, and ultimately comforting book.-- Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library , LA

"Love and reassurance fill these pages--along with the sadness of loss and knowledge that there is more to come."

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews