Cuento de Luz (Tale of Light) is a publisher of children’s picture books that speak to unusual situations and imaginations. Based in Spain, they publish authors from around the world. I’ve reviewed some of their books before, and I really enjoyed the two they sent me this time.
Told in the engaging voice of Oscar, who’s 7 years old and an only child, Grandpa Monty’s Muddles is a bittersweet tale of a grandfather suffering from Alzheimer’s who comes to live with the family. Oscar explains he’s not really an only child anymore, because Grandpa Monty isn’t well, and does a lot of things that make him look like a little kid. He always looks very cheerful though.
Grandpa is forgetting his words bit by bit. At first Oscar thinks it must be his fault, but his mum explains it to him. Oscar sits and looks at picture albums with his Grandpa, and reads him the newspaper to exercise his brain. He also makes little labels and puts them on everything–sweater, stool, kitchen, couch, crackers, cookies. He makes his grandpa a little word dictionary of things around the house. It’s a sad story in many ways, because Grandpa isn’t getting better, but it’s a lovely story of the love of a child for his grandfather. It would be a great book for anyone dealing with senility or Alzheimer’s in their own family.
A gorgeous bedtime book. It begins: Every night, before I go to sleep, she sits down on my bed with heaps of stories in her hands. She’s got them all. And away we go, into all the stories. Some of the stories are sweet, like visiting the Fairground in the city. Some are chilly, like going ice-skating, or magical, like when the child’s bed lands in a tree and a pair of giant hands like wings sweep around her, teaching her to fly. Some are scary, or mysterious. Regardless, Night’s gentle voice guides the child through peaceful, delightful stories until she dreams perfect dreams. A gentle, relaxing book, A Night Time Story is perfect for sleepy children begging for “one more story.”