PreS-Gr 2-Just as the metaphorical title states, Grandma has died. This serene and comforting picture book begins simply with "I was so sick. So sick that I died. Now I feel-wonderful." The typeface changes, the grandmother is depicted as if through a whitewash over full-color watercolors saying good-bye to each member of the sleeping family and animals she has loved; good-bye to the garden, town, and earth to float up to the stars where she presumably glows in the evening sky. Square paintings raggedly framed on full-bled lavender spreads soften the images that grow bigger as Grandma takes her leave to the final double-page spread where the accepting family looks to the stars. Like Mordicai Gerstein's The Mountains of Tibet (HarperCollins, 1989), the story provides a way of looking at death as a passage and an afterlife as an extension of a full and loving life, a comforting view to grieving families who seek solace in a story or who wish to open a dialogue about death.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Ages 3^-7. Every adult who turns to books to help children cope with death is looking for something different: the one volume that represents the individual's own beliefs, emotions, and aesthetics. Although no single selection can satisfy everyone, this unusual picture book will be a comforting and even moving choice for many children and adults. Grandma, who narrates the book, dies on the first page. The opening text appears in a sage green that looks fittingly wan against the lavender background: "I was so sick. So sick that I died. Now I feel . . . ." After the elision, the sentence finishes in white, which shines robustly from the same background: "wonderful. And now it's time to say goodbye." Grandmother seems to radiate light as she stops to say goodbye to her sleeping family members, the dog, the cat, the pictures she's painted, and (one last time) the children, before walking through the garden and rising over the town, above the earth, and into the stars. The tone of the book is matter-of-fact, the text is short and simple, and the artwork is luminous. A solid black line defines the figures and objects in the illustrations, except the form of the grandmother, which is drawn with a multicolored line reminiscent of crayon-resist art. Done on computer, the artwork creates surprisingly radiant effects on the page, while reflecting the understated, affectionate tone of the text. The illustrations convey not just the fact of death, but the mystery of it, the love that transcends it, and the wonder of it all. --Carolyn Phelan

I was so sick. So sick that I died. Now I feel...wonderful. And now it's time to say goodbye. Gentle pastel-colored art with folksy black outlines depicts Grandma, glowing with light, saying goodbye to her sleeping family and rising into the night sky on white wings. Literal-minded young listeners may misconstrue the euphemistic title, but readers from some faiths will find this book a comfort. From HORN BOOK Spring 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.