15 Things Not To Do With A Granny

"15 Things? Not To Do With Granny by Margaret McAllister and Holly Sterling – it’s presented like a rule book which I just love. The best thing about this book is just the joy in it – and the silliness. “These are very active grandparents, they aren’t wrapped in a blanket in a comfy chair by the fire. These are grannies that do karate!” Also, the way they’re able to go beneath the surface of the idea is clever. The fact that you’ve got two grannies from two different backgrounds struggling to entertain these two little kids. You can see their annoyances and their joy and their love. One granny is struggling with a pile of kids. Another granny is holding her ears because they make so much noise. I love that real-life aspect. These are very active grandparents; they aren’t wrapped in a blanket in a comfy chair by the fire. You’ve got grannies that take you to the zoo and do karate! We’re not often presented that side of granny-hood. Grandparents are often portrayed as cantankerous or very fragile. I know when I was young and lived in Roehampton on the third floor—if the lift wasn’t working, my Nan would walk up the stairs and let us know how many stairs there were. She always counted stairs. She is still alive, I should say, and she till counts stairs. She’s very active, always running about between our house and then my aunt’s house, and kind of just back and forth and always on hand. As was my granddad—he worked all his life, and died eight years ago. I think he was 82. He was working right up to like the last moment. He was constantly active. We’d always go for long walks and explore Wandsworth. The focus on the two grannies works well. I don’t think the parents feature at all. There’s no granddad. It’s just unashamedly focusing on two grannies. Two active older ladies, which it seems like the media is terrified of. I think that’s lovely. And the colours in the illustrations are gorgeous. There’s one scene where they go to the moon—the granny is in the rocket—you get such a sense of love and joy."