Text: Anna Sakowicz
Illustrations: Ewa Bieniak-Haremska
7+
159 pages
Hardcover
21,5 x 15,5 cm
(Poradnia K)
Rights sold: Spanish, Russian
Nomination for the Best Book 2019 by IBBy Polish Section
Mr A moves into thiela’s home and turns the family life upside down.
It’s his fault that grandma is forgetful, confuses names, doesn’t recognize the family members and doen’t cope with daily activities.
Aniela doesn’t like Mr A. She writes letters to him and urges him to move out.
„I don’t like you! Why can’t you leave my grandmother alone ?!” The girl writes him letters and leaves them on the threshold of her grandmother’s room. She never finds them there in the morning so she is convinced that Mr Alzheimer takes them at night.
A unique, moving, warm and humorous book with an overtone of melancholy by Anna Sakowicz, on a family’s struggle with the incurable Alzheimer’s disease.
The readers will come across questions about how to deal with helplessness, transience, illness and old age. And old age seems to be a taboo subject – our society displaces it and runs away from it. We glorify eternal youth and vitality.
The author is not afraid of raising these issues because she knows how many families face them.
Parents find it particularly difficult to explain to children what happens to their beloved grandparents when they feel chaos instead of the well-known order. Why they are unrecognizable, why they lose their orientation, do not recognize anyone or confuse the purpose of objects.
This is universal book.
The unique perspective of the child appeals to everyone; when faced with a huge problem like an incurable disease, we are all helpless like children.
The world seen through the eyes of a child is also created by Ewa Beniak-Haremska and her magical pictures that show lost or damaged objects, grandmother’s helplessness, but also happy moments when grandmother was still healthy.
Anna Sakowicz shares her experiences to a large extent; the story was based on her own experience – her mother suffers from Alzheimer’s. Writing became a kind of self-therapy and brought her great relief. And taught that the best medicine is love.
