posted on 14 Jul 2024

Grandpa Kuma by Michelle Maiden

As an avid collector of books featuring grandparents, I was intrigued to receive this review copy about a little human girl and her Bear Grandpa. As an adult reader I assumed that this cosy persona might be some kind of game, but does that really matter if the story works?

I settled down beside my five-year-old grandson to see what he thought about it all and he was convinced this was about a real bear, after reading the back cover blurb which explained that Kuma means ‘bear’ in Japanese.  

Grandpa Kuma has travelled a long way from Japan to visit his granddaughter, Miko. They love to communicate with one another, but don’t share the same language so need to find ways to have fun despite this. My grandson explained that this wasn’t a problem as he knows lots of children who speak other languages at school and ‘they just play with me anyway’.

As the story develops, we agreed that he wasn’t really a bear but that he was definitely big, warm and cuddly, so the name fitted. We liked the way in which the author includes some Japanese phrases for us to learn, with some translations by her bilingual mother. Miko tries hard to explain what she wants to play with him and we enjoyed how the illustrations show his misunderstanding by using pictures in thought bubbles. At one point she looks very frustrated as she physically pulls him to his feet in a double page spread that shows him tipping across onto her page.   

 I asked my grandson what they could try next and he suggested drawing pictures or making things for each other, sure enough on the turn of the page we see Grandpa impressing her with origami. The first item is a bird so that at last they can share a new word in English and Japanese. This success opens the door for more delightful games like marbles, cards and playing together on the swings – both look very happy and nearly forget to eat their lunch! 

We enjoyed watching how the initially tentative relationship develops and grows between the two of them. The illustration layout builds on this confidence and complexity by using several smaller pictures with minimal text on the pages that show them exploring the big city together.  Grandpa Kuma proves himself to be a splendid play companion undaunted by new challenges as they share new vocabulary along the way. When it is eventually time for him to go back home, the poignant picture showing their farewell at the airport made us feel very sad. We were pleased to see that Miko writes him a letter and sends him her own origami bird.

I recommend this simple story about the special relationship between grandparent and grandchild which will have resonance for adults and child readers. I can see how it will inspire plenty of conversations about personal experiences and some interesting artwork and origami from young children. Learning some Japanese is also a bonus, especially as there is a useful glossary with the correct pronunciation at the back.

Well done to this debut author/ illustrator for producing a beautiful and unusual picture book published by Wacky Bee Books. It should be available to order from your local independent bookshop or directly from www.wackybeebooks.com

Karen Argent

July 2024