Review: Eighteen Flowers for Grandma

Eighteen Flowers for Grandma: A Gift of Chai

by Alison Goldberg, illustrated by Jesse White

Red Comet Press, 2024

Category: Picture Books

Reviewer: Denise Ross

Buy at Bookshop.org

A young girl named Sadie spends time with her grandma creating art when they have their special day together. Grandma is getting ready to graduate from art school and Sadie wants to give her the perfect gift. Grandma gave Sadie a chai charm necklace when she graduated from kindergarten. Grandma explained that chai means life in Hebrew and she wished for Sadie to have a life that is full of wonder.

While Sadie and her family attend her cousin’s wedding, she is inspired to create a gift of eighteen flowers for her grandma’s graduation. The next day Sadie finds all the supplies and materials at home to make her gift: eighteen flowers that are special, just like her grandma.

The story explains the meaning of chai with beautiful illustrations that show the reader the Hebrew concepts, and all the materials used to create the art projects and the celebrations. The family attends a Jewish wedding, with dancing of the hora to the music of a klezmer band. An end note explains the Jewish vocabulary used in the story, and the author talks about her inspiration for the story.

I happily recommend this book to all readers. Everyone will enjoy the story and beautiful illustrations about the special relationship between a grandchild and grandparent, creating art using all types of materials, and learning about Jewish concepts. My favorite quote from the story is “May our lives be filled with art and our art be filled with life.”

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Reviewer Denise Ross is the volunteer librarian at the Albert Mendelson Library at Temple Solel in Cardiff, California and also works in the Genealogy Department at the Carlsbad City Library. Denise lives in Carlsbad, California with her family and enjoys genealogy, quilting and reading books with her new granddaughter.