Grandpa Had a Stroke by Dori Hillestad Butler

Butler, Dori Hillestad, and Nicole Wong. My Grandpa Had a Stroke. New York: Magination Pg, 2007.

This is a story about a little by named Ryan who spends every Saturday with his Grandpa until his Grandpa had a stroke. Now, everything is changing and Ryan is coping with these changes. In the end, Ryan and his Grandpa reunite on a Saturday and his Grandpa shows Ryan that just because he has changed does not mean that he can not to things that he did before; like spend time with his grandson on Saturdays.

Upon reading this book, I had an email conversation with this author that helped me understand her views on this topic explained in the book. I had asked her how she was an “insider” to this topic and she responded that he grandfather had a stroke and he had completely changed overnight. She wanted to find a book to explain to her young children at the time and she couldn’t find one so that was when she decided she was going to write one. During the story we learn a lot about what happens when someone has a stroke. On page 8, Ryan’s dad explains to him what happened, “Grandpa’s stroke happened in the part of the brain that tells him to move the left side of his body (Hillestad 8).” We, the readers, can gather that Hillestad has a sense of what happens during this time. The pictures help as well to understand what is going on throughout the story, starting with the cover of the book; this is where we see Ryan and his grandfather out fishing while he is in a wheel chair. This demonstrates that some people need wheel chairs after they have a stroke, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t do the things they used to.

Through out this children’s book, we learn a lot about strokes and how to go about them in the present and in the future. We, the readers, can also see how Grandpa was portrayed in the sense of his stroke. Grandpa could do all of these things and after he has a stroke, he can not do as much, but when he can, he does them with his grandson. This is a fantastic book for teaching about strokes, how children can deal with strokes, and how the elderly is seen as through the eyes of a little child.

Dori Hillestad Butler’s Website: http://www.kidswriter.com/books.htm