The Lines on Nana's Face

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

It's granny's birthday, but her little granddaughter wonders why, because of the lines on her face, she looks so worried! But they are simply wrinkles, and grandma is very fond of her lines because they are where she keeps her memories.

In this imaginative and charming story, Simona Ciraolo turns the lines from old age into little wrinkles of wonder and memory as a little girl learns all about the precious moments in her grandma's life.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Nana has wrinkles-a lot of them-and they make her face look as if she's not quite happy. This concerns her granddaughter, who wants Nana to enjoy her birthday party. Ciraolo's silk screen-like images show her asking Nana about each line. Nana isn't offended, and explains that they're where she keeps all her memories. Her granddaughter points to the crow's feet at the edges of her eyes. "This is the best picnic I have ever had by the seaside," says Nana. The contrast between the expectations set up by Nana's answers and what the page turns reveal will elicit smiles. The picnic is no idyllic outing: a storm is coming, and the wind is so strong that a young Nana and her friends huddle under their towels, giggling. "The night I met your grandpa" shows the couple on a wild roller coaster ride. Grandpa looks happy; Nana, not so much. The revelation that older relatives were once young is always a surprise for younger people, and Ciraolo (Whatever Happened to My Sister?) presents Nana's story in a way that's affectionate and never patronizing. Ages 5-up. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-Simple watercolor and pencil cartoons chronicle a young girl's visit with her grandmother on the elderly woman's birthday. "I know she's happy because she likes it when we are all together. But sometimes it looks like she might also be a bit sad, and a little surprised, and slightly worried, all at the same time." When the child asks if Nana minds the lines on her face, the woman declares that it is in these lines that she keeps her memories. Each wrinkle is examined and explained, from a furrow that came from solving a mystery to crow's-feet from a seaside picnic to, finally, laugh lines recording the birth of the questioner. Each stated memory is followed by a full-bleed spread depicting the scene from the woman's past in a bright palette. VERDICT A sweet, quiet intergenerational story and exploration of family, best shared one-on-one.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

It's Nana's birthday, and even though it's meant to be a celebratory time, Nana's young granddaughter can't tell if Nana is happy, sad, surprised, worried, or all of the above, because she has so many lines on her face. Curious about her grandma's face, her granddaughter asks if all the lines bother her. Not at all,' she says. You see, it is in these lines that I keep all my memories!' The little girl then asks about specific lines, and Nana briefly describes a memory, which is brought to life on the following double-page spread in a wordless illustration of a snapshot in time. Ciraolo nicely captures the guileless curiosity of children in the little girl's narrative, as well as the gentle love in Nana's sweet explanations of her private memories. The scribbly illustrations in saturated colors are full of expressive detail, particularly in close-ups of Nana's genial face. This warm, bittersweet story about a life richly lived is perfect for grandparents to share with little ones in a one-on-one storytime.--Lock, Anita Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A skeptical child puts her grandmothers claim that wrinkles are where memories are stored to the test.What do you keep here, Nana? And what about this? Each of Nanas general answers gets fuller explication in a wordless following scene, so that a flashback to a delighted child coming upon a mama cat with new kittens follows Here is that morning, early one spring, when I solved a great mystery. Likewise, Oh, those are from the night I met your grandpa precedes a scene of screaming roller-coaster riders. Nana! Do you remember the first time you saw me? Yes! That is right here, she says, pointing to her smile. In lightly brushed watercolors Ciraolo sets this comfortably intimate conversation amid flowers and foliage on a sun porch before closing with a festive family gathering with party hats and balloons in celebration of the benevolently smilingcomfortably wrinkledelders birthday. The figures in the illustrations have light but varied skin tones. Nana shares one sad memory but no tragic ones, so overall, the rich if sketchy lifes story that emerges from the exchange keeps its happy, positive tone throughout. A sweet intergenerational tte--tte. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.