Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord

Lucy Emery's family has moved yet again, this time to a lovely old lakeside house in New Hampshire.  And even though it won't be the first time she's been the "new girl," Lucy, 12, knows it can be difficult to make friends with kids who have known each other for a long time.

To make matter more difficult, Lucy's father, a well-known nature photographer, is off to Arizona immediately, leaving her and her mother to deal with the new house.  Just before he leaves, Lucy discovers her father is going to judge a kid's photography contest.  Lucy is an enthusiastic amateur photographer herself, and would like to take photos that make her dad say that he wished he had taken them.  So, Lucy decides to enter the contest - anonymously, of course - to see how she stacks up in her father's unbiased opinion.

Luckily, Lucy immediately meets next door neighbor Nate and his family, including his grandmother. Grandma Lilah, who always comes to the lake for the summer. Each year, she gets involved with the Loon Preservation Committee (LCP), monitoring how the loons at the lake are doing on a daily basis.  But now, she is too old to be out on the lake, and it appears that Grandma Lilah is also slipping into dementia.  So. Lucy finds herself in a kayak, paddling with Nate and his sister Emily to check on a loon nest across the lake.  And Nate, hearing about the photography contest, immediately gets involved, helping Lucy find some great shots she otherwise would not have know about.

As the summer goes by, Lucy to get attached to the loons and to Nate's large family, especially Grandma Lilah, who wants to cross the lake so badly to check on the loons herself.  Lucy decides to use the $500. contest prize to rent a pontoon for the day so that Grandma Lilah can go out on the lake and do the daily report for the LPC.  And while it appears that Grandma Lilah knows what is happening to her mind, grandson Nate refuses to acknowledge it at all.  So when Lucy takes a beautiful but very revealing photo of Grandma Lilah that captures the rawness of her confusion and the sadness she feels, Nate, seeing the truth about his grandmother, gets angry and refuses to speak to Lucy.

And Lucy faces some serious ethical questions when she decides to enter the contest under a false name, and to use the photo of Grandma Lilah for the contest, despite Nate's objections.  But, if Lucy wins, the photo could be published in a magazine, and Lucy never asked Nate's family, and especially Grandma Lilah, if that would be OK with them.

Will Lucy and Nate part as friends or enemies at summer's end?

Kids dealing with a grandparent's dementia is a tough topic, and not one you would expect them to be interested in.  Cynthia Lord makes it accessible to young readers in Half a Chance by distancing Grandma Lilah, making her part of Lucy's story, but not her family.  By doing this, Lucy can see the truth about Grandma Lilah more objectively, without the same level of emotional attachment that Nate feels, and perhaps help Nate accept the changes in his grandmother.

Lord also captures Lucy's conflicting feelings about her father.  It's clear she wishes he wasn't such an absentee dad, but she's also proud of his nature photography.  Some readers may think that Lucy is trying to compete with his talent, other will understand that she just wants some attention and acknowledgement from him that she is also talented.  That Lucy loves her dad goes without saying.

A word of warning for sensitive readers - the loon family consists of two adults and two chicks. However, in keeping with the theme of loss, one of the baby chicks is killed by an eagle.

Half a Chance is a quiet, thoughtful coming of age novel that addresses some serious issues and asks some very thoughtful questions for today's young readers to think about.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Scholastic Press

Blog Tour: What a Beautiful Morning by Arthur A. Levine, illustrated by Katie Kath

Noah loves to spend his summer days with his Grandpa.  Together, they sing each beautiful morning in with a big, booming song.  Then, after bringing Grandma a hot cup of coffee, they take the dog out for a long walk, rain or shine, singing the whole way. When they come home, there's cinnamon French toast, thanks to Grandma. And after breakfast, Grandpa always asks Noah the same question: "what's on the docket" for the rest of the day.

But one morning, Grandpa forgets how to cut his French toast, followed by more and more forgotten things, until one day, Grandpa doesn't even remember who Noah is and the time Noah and Grandpa spend together is changed forever.  But thanks to wise Grandma, the good days aren't completely over once she tells Noah that they must learn to appreciate what Grandpa still has, not what he has lost.

And Noah discovers just how he and Grandpa can connect with each other again - by singing big, booming songs together.

Like so many kids nowadays, Noah is learning how to accept that fact that his Grandpa is suffering from memory loss, most likely Alzheimer's though nothing specific is mentioned, and that forgetting is going to happen more and more frequently, even forgetting a beloved grandchild.  This has to be a difficult thing for a child to understand, especially one who is used to seeing a grandparent who is active, happy and loving.

What a Beautiful Morning is a well-done book that doesn't shy away from the reality of what a memory loss disease like Alzheimer's can do to an older person and how it impacts those around them.  I think Arthur Levine has really captured Grandpa's confusion when he wakes up and doesn't know who Noah is and Noah's despair as he runs out of the house "breathing hard, a painful lump in his throat."

Illustrations should always reflect what the text says and Katie Kath's line and watercolor illustrations are a beautiful melding of word and picture from beginning to end.  Kath captures the joy that a smiling Noah and Grandpa feel when things are going well in her colorful illustrations and the sadness they both feel when Grandpa doesn't remember things in her black, white and gray illustrations giving the sense that all the joy has drained out of their lives.

What a Beautiful Morning is a lovely and sad book, but it is a story that needs to be told to young readers so that they may understand should their lives ever be impacted by a grandparent's memory loss, and/or feel empathy should one of their friends be in a position like Noah.  But whether you can relate to Noah or Grandpa or not, it is a book that should be read by everyone.

Alzheimer's directly impacted Arthur A. Levine life when his father was diagnosed with it.  It is one of the reason's this book feels so authentic, rather than a story from his imagination.  And he has posted some very useful and important Alzheimer's Resources on his blog to help you and your family understand and deal with this disease better.  You can find them HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Running Press

Be sure to visit these other stop of the What A Beautiful Morning Blog Tour:

8/2 Flowering Minds

8/3 MomReadIt

8/4 Unpacking the POWER of Picture Books

8/5 Stacking Books

8/6 #Kidlit Book of the Day

8/8 Enjoy Embrace Learning

8/9 Unleashing Readers

8/10 Two Writing Teachers

8/11 Bildebok

8/12 Geo Librarian

8/13 Randomly Reading