Trish's Reviews > The Grannyman

This children's story reminds us that children may understand things instinctively that we adults have to be taught. A very old cat struggles to stay cognizant in a world in which reality is slipping away. The book has a very slow and simple storyline that is both poignant and funny-sad.

Sometimes when the old cat sleeps, it makes noises or moves its legs in something like protest. It can't walk or jump as it did when it was younger; sometimes it seeks the house's warm spots and moves little. But it remembers what it can no longer see. It remembers what it means to be a cat.

There may just the moment for such a book in a child's repertoire. It allows them to grasp the world is much bigger than their nuclear family. Nothing to be frightened of, especially, but sometimes animals and people grow old and their memories are more vivid than reality.