Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa

By Anna Dewdney

Who can forget their first sleepover? Not the one at a friend’s house; I mean the one at Gram and Grandpa’s house.

Ms. Dewdney, with her “every child” scenarios in her Llama Lama series, is in very comfortable and relatable territory for most kids of picture book age.

The ritual of the first sleep over at a grandparent’s house is a biggie, what with the determination of what to pack along with the pj’s. It all takes some careful planning. Bag? Check. Fuzzy? Check. He’s on the back seat. And off you go.

Things at Gram and Grandpa’s are the same as at home, with familiar pictures on the wall of family members, yet it’s a wee bit different.

Okay, time to unpack for the night.

Wait a gosh darn second! Where is Fuzzy Llama? Anything amiss, he’s asked. Should he fess up or no? Better press on with tractor riding, gardening and outside play.

Momentary distractions fill the time with Grandpa’s woodshop. Together they fashion a just-right size chair for…. Llama can only imagine….. the left behind Fuzzy. Oops!

Dinner passes, plus a nighttime show from the stars. The traditional childhood routines of bath, toothbrushing, storytelling and the final good night smooch ensue.

A quivering lip from Llama Llama betrays all:

            Fuzzy Llama isn’t here!

Will Llama Llama self-soothe, will the grandparents take him home to retrieve Fuzzy, or will Grandpa remember what it felt like to be Llama Llama, and provide a “fuzzy” solution all his own?

My money is on the wisdom and experience of Grandpa to provide a special much-needed, well-worn and much-loved toy, all of his own, to fit the bill in order to provide comfort.

Ms. Dewdney provides an important lesson for all children that find themselves, for a short or longer time, away from the familiar place that is home.

And that is, that a “home away from home” can be wherever there are good people that love us and care about us.

Night Night, Llama Llama!