Juvenile fiction
Alzheimer's is a hard topic to tackle in any balanced way in adult literature. The loss of self identity and memories inch by inch is probably one of our deepest fears. The knowledge that a loved one someday won't recognize them is one of the greatest cruelties a person can incur.
I imagine it would be an even more difficult topic to tackle in juvenile literature. Few authors have tried. In her Newberry Medal winning Merci Suarez Changes Gears Meg Medina does so masterfully.
Merci isn't like the rich kids at her school. She's a scholarship student of much more modest means. Three generations of her family live in three side by side small houses but function more as a unit. This is not something she always appreciates.
"I should mention here that 1) no one ever asks me if I ever want to babysit the twins [her holy terror cousins], 2) Roli [brother] gets out of it thanks to his tutoring job and working on his college applications, and 3) I get paid exactly zero for keeping them from swallowing pennies and running into traffic."
One day when Merci gets home from school there's a police car parked in front of her grandparents' house. Lolo, her grandfather, is in the back seat. He'd picked up the wrong pair of twins at kindergarten dismissal time.
That's only the first incident. Lolo wanders off one day when he's helping Merci's father on a painting job. He falls off his bike while running a routine errand and swears Merci to secrecy.
It's like something terrible is happening to Merci's beloved grandfather. Everyone else including her brother knows what's going on. But they won't let her in on the secret.
Lolo had done a lot of the twins' childcare so their mother could work. Now that he's unable to Merci has to help out a lot more. This means she can't play on the soccer team which she's practiced for all summer.
This coming of age narrative is an excellent read for children like Merci who are experiencing the very unfair and very confusing loss of loved ones due to dementia.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm snuggling with Tobago on the sofa waiting to go to the hospital. I'm no longer panicking because I can hardly keep my eyes open. I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm also hungry from having to skip breakfast. (Jules)
I keep telling her she'll be okay. ( Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene who is going to take me to Northern Blight and then home even though he doesn't like hospitals.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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