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Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

Caldecott Medal (2012)

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Grandpa Green's great grandson wanted to retell the stories of his grandpa's life. But Grandpa Green was becoming old and forgetful. So, his great-grandson recreated memories of his life and things forgetten through imagination and the shapes of topiary trees in his garden. Then, Grandpa Green was able to remember all the important things through his family and his garden. Finally, the great-grandson realized that even though Grandpa Green was becoming forgetful, he lived a full and wonderful life and he was connected to his Grandpa Green forever.

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Ask Questions

The book has extraordinary visuals that lets readers' imaginations run wild. Some students may not know what a topiary garden is. Take time to look at the artwork displayed on the front cover.

Discussion Questions:
What is Grandpa Green doing?

Is anyone familiar with topiary gardens?

Why do you think Grandpa Green is sculpting an elephant?

Make Connections
Connections between text and illustrations in the book are sometimes obvious, sometimes less so. It is important to go through the book a second time and ask questions about how illustrations relate to text. For example, some students may not connect the illustrations on pages 8 and 9 to "The Wizard of Oz."

Discussion Questions:
Why did Grandpa Green choose to create particular pieces of art?

What kind of story do you think is being told through the illustrations on these pages?  (P. 8-9)

How do the illustrations here connect to Grandpa Green's life? (P. 8-9)

Visualize
The book doesn’t use many words. Yet it tells the story of one person’s whole life through visuals and imagination. Students could be asked to discuss how this was possible.

Discussion Questions:
Do books always need many words?

How was Grandpa Green's life story told by his Great-Grandson?

Not everyone has a topiary garden, but we have other ways of holding onto memories. What are some of them? How do you hold onto your memories?

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Great- grandson:

Adventurous- Great-grandson shows he is adventurous as he explores the topiary garden and brings his Grandpa's memories to life with the help of his imagination.

Proud- Great- grandson shows he was extremely proud to be his Grandpa's great-grandson  by telling stories about his accomplishments and highlighting the biggest moments of his life.

Imaginative- Great-grandson shows how imaginative he is by using his imagination to make the topiary structures life-like and connect to the story he is telling.

Grandpa Green:
Brave- Grandpa Green shows he is brave when he gave up his dream to study horticulture to fight in a World War.

Loving- Grandpa Green shows he is loving when he marries his wife after the war and they enjoy many happy years together.

Creative- Grandpa Green shows he is creative through his beautiful topiary garden that he grew and built on his own.