LaMarche is one of my favorite authors. His stories are happy, and his artistry is delightful. In this book, two children delight in their grandmother's visits. She always tells such great stories, and she also has hand-made medicines On a family vacation to the beach, their grandmother opened an umbrella and flew away to Greenland.

This story reminds me very much of Mary Poppins the tale of a magical woman who knew how to entertain children.

One year later, and grandmother had not returned. The family gingerly entered her bedroom and found a trove of objects, including a nest with three eggs inside. The baby pigeons slowly cracked out of the eggs and were fed by a dropper. When an ornithologist was called, he noted that this was an incredible find as the birds were thought to be extinct.

As they grew older, it was a shame to continue to cage them. One moonlight night, the children carefully cradled the birds and with a little push set them flying in the air.

The next day there was a note from grandma from Greenland saying she changed porpoises three times and then caught a whale. She said she would be back soon. And told them to look out for her stuffed pigeon on a shelf.

A lovely story with lovely illustrations made my day a happy one!

Grandmother is loving but also strong and "mysterious." When she sets off on the back of a porpoise to visit Greenland and isn't heard from in a year, the family starts peeking through the things in her room. Mother delicately lifts a nest with some eggs only to discover baby birds hatching -- and that's just the beginning of the magic!

This is an odd but good book. Grandmother is a bit quirky and then the book quickly dives off into some magic realism with the porpoise riding. It winds its way back to that but not before temporarily resurrecting an extinct species along the way.

All throughout, the book is fully captivating and leaves you wondering what will happen next. It contains the perfect combination of Erdrich's evocative writing style and the beautiful, eye-catching illustrations. It's not just that the illustrations feature realistic-looking people, it shows them with very relatable human reactions and expressions. It felt as though you could walk into the scene with them.

I definitely recommend this book for folks like me who enjoy Louise Erdrich's writings. It's also appealing for kids and adults who like interesting and unconventional stories. ( )

3rd Grade
This story is very detailed and has some twist and turns with a surprise ending. The text is very detailed and the illustrations fit great which I think would help with memorization for the order of importance strategy.

This book is about a grandma who loves the outdoors and wild life creatures. The grandma brings back home a nest of eggs and the family sits and waits for the eggs to hatch. Its the family's responsibility to take care of the eggs until there old enough to fly with there flock.

The children in this book respected their grandmothers pigeons after she left. Furthermore the entire family basked in up bring of the pets. Knowing that their gradmother loved her pets and treated them like family. Her family took care of them and took absolute joy and pleasure in doing so.

Book Review, Pierce College Ages (3-5)