Chersheng is hurt that his beloved grandfather no longer remembers who he is all the time and speaks of wanting to go “home,” back to Laos. When Chersheng’s mother gets out the story cloth Grandfather made while at a refugee camp in Thailand, the older man sits down with Chersheng and relates the story told in the cloth: of his family’s life in Laos, of the coming of soldiers and war, and their flight to Thailand. There the story shown in the cloth ends, inspiring Chersheng, who loves art, to pick up its thread. Using paper, scissors and glue, he creates a story collage of “your American memories” for his grandfather—memories that include Chersheng and his brother and all that their family is today. A bilingual (English/Hmong) picture book sensitively weaves a child’s feelings about a grandparent’s Alzheimer’s Disease with his family’s history of coming to the United States. The lengthy picture book narrative is illustrated with tender scenes of family life and images of the story cloth. (Ages 6–10)

Life is slowly changing for a Hmong family as Grandfather succumbs to the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Ten-year-old Chersheng is given the responsibility of helping to care for the story cloth that Grandfather so skill fully embroidered in the refugee camp. After listening to Grandfather relate the story of his escape from Laos as stitched in the cloth, he is inspired to create his own colorful collage of their new life in America to help Grandfa ther remember. The bilingual story is sympathetically told from the point of view of Chersheng and illustrated with impressionistic watercolor paintings. An afterward provides more information about story cloths and Alzheimer’s disease. 2009 CCBC Choices, Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, 2008 Silver Health Issues United States. djg

Chersheng feels sad and helpless when he learns that Grandfather has Alzheimer's Disease, but then Chersheng's mother presents him with a story cloth stitched by Grandfather himself, embroidered in the Hmong tradition.

Chersheng's grandfather is beginning to forget things: little things like turning off the water faucet and big things like Chersheng's name. Sometimes he even forgets that he is in America now. Chersheng feels sad and helpless when he learns that Grandfather has Alzheimer's Disease, but then Chersheng's mother presents him with a story cloth stitched by Grandfather himself, embroidered in the Hmong tradition.

Through the story cloth, Grandfather's memories of his life in Laos come alive. And inspired by Grandfather's tales about his life before the war forced him to immigrate to America, Chersheng comes up with a plan to capture his family's new life with his own art project. This way, they can all remember that their love is stronger than Alzheimer's Disease, no matter in which country they live.

Linda Gerdner's heartwarming story addresses the increasing number of children who live with elderly grandparents with dementia. This volume, presented bilingually in English and Hmong, allows children and their loved ones not only to gain a compassionate understanding of Alzheimer's Disease, but also to share in the simplest act of pleasure and love -- that of reading together.