"Like all beauty, the old maple tree has its day, its brilliance unmatched anywhere under the sun."
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Tell Me Again Grampa by Merrill Phillips Trafford Publishing
book review by Cynthia Collins
This is a delightful book filled with stories of when the author was growing up. Each chapter is a new story that is written so middle-grade children will enjoy it. Simple things, such as going fishing or walking near a lake, become adventures filled with exploration and curiosity. There are tales for every season including a ghost story for Halloween. "The Old House on the Hill" is about a house built before the Civil War. Everyone who sees it insists it is haunted. It looks even scarier when there is no moonlight. It doesn't ease anyone's nervousness when they hear an old owl calling "Who-o-o?" No one has lived in that house for years, but the stories about ghosts walking through walls or digging out in the yard are revived every Halloween.
The author has done a wonderful job recreating adventures he experienced in his youth. It is easy for adult readers to feel themselves drifting into the stories as the years lift away. Instead of reading about going to search for the family Christmas tree, readers will feel the snow crunching under foot and the warmth of a fire. The book does have punctuation omissions throughout but those do not detract from the story lines. This collection can be read as one continuous book or as individual short stories. The small sketches that accompany each story add to the childlike innocence of a visit to the countryside, of a warm house with lots of good memories, and the chance to hear Grampa's stories again.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review