We started this series because of a question neither of us could answer well.
A child asked why her grandmother had to use a walker now. The grownups in the room gave the kind of answer grownups give. Something soft and quick that closed the subject without really opening it.
The child was not satisfied. Children rarely are. They can tell when you are steering around something, and the steering is usually scarier than the thing itself.
So we went looking for a book that would help. There were plenty about losing a grandparent. Almost nothing about living with one who is changing.
One Question At A Time
Pockets Of Why is a growing series of picture books for children roughly four to eight years old. Each book takes one honest question a child might ask about an aging grandparent and answers it.
Not all of aging. Not the whole story. One question.
The walker. The forgetting. The move into the spare room. The visit where everyone talks in low voices in the kitchen. These are the moments that confuse children, and they are the moments most books skip.
We write the stories quiet on purpose. No emergencies. No lesson at the end. No child who has to be brave about it. Just a kid, a grandparent, and one thing that finally makes sense.
Two Friends, Forty Plus Years In
Esther C. Kane Esther writes about aging and caregiving for a living. She has spent years helping families figure out what to do when a parent starts to slow down, which means she has watched a lot of families try to explain it to the youngest person in the room.
She does not have children of her own. She will be the first to tell you that writing for a five year old does not come naturally to her. That is why she called Carmela.
Carmela Smith Carmela raised two children and cared for her own parents as they got older. For years she read aloud in school libraries and sat on classroom floors with kids who had questions.
She knows which words land with a five year old and which ones sail right over. This is her first time writing a book, and she is very good at the part that matters most, which is remembering exactly how a child hears things.
How We Write These
Children can handle the truth. What they cannot handle is a room full of adults acting like nothing is happening.
Aging is not a tragedy. A walker is not sad. Forgetting a name is not the end of a relationship. We refuse to write these books as though something terrible has occurred.
No moral at the end. Kids know when they are being taught a lesson, and they stop listening.
The love part does not change. That is the line every book comes back to, because it is the only thing a young child really needs to know.
Most Of These Started With A Real Kid
Every title in the series began as a question somebody actually asked. Some came from our own families. Some came from readers.
If your child asked you something about a grandparent and you found yourself stuck for an answer, we would like to hear it. It might turn into the next book.
Know When The Next One Comes Out
We will email you when a new book is finished. That is mostly it. A few times a year at most.