Before She Was My Grandmother

The young narrator of this intimate-feeling picture book cherishes time with her attentive grandmother, Alice—especially when the woman brings out a box of treasured mementos. “Every object is a clue,” Potter writes, to “the story of her life before she was my grandmother.” As a child, Alice, born with stiff joints, spends time reading, observing, and collecting, practices that sustain her when she’s sent to a hospital in Switzerland. Eventually, Alice marries a fellow artist and starts the family whose descendants lead to the narrator’s birth. The creator’s aesthetic seems to flow directly from Alice’s own hand, and themes of creativity, mindfulness, and persistence thread through this thoughtful work about how “everyone has a story that is much bigger than the part you can see.” Characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 5–8.