The Grandparent Book: A Keepsake Journal Diary – August 25, 2009

We purchased 8 different grandparent books this year for Christmas in an attempt to find a match in style and generation for each person. (We have three great-grandparents in the mix.) As I was reading through the books I tried to keep in mind different family structures for example a divorce/remarriage as well as stylistic preferences. This is what I noticed...The Book Itself: - A sturdy Hardcover with a hidden spiral binding, this is a plus because when you read/write in it the book lays flat on the table. - The pages are all matte finish and mostly a light-medium weight except the divider pages which are medium weight. The matte finish enables the writer to use an type of pen they wish. -The pages are Blue, Green or White and the Text is colored as well, dark blue or occasionally green. -Font is about 14pt. (This is completely a guess on my part after holding it up to something I printed at 12pt.) -There is a sticker on the back cover that comes off easily, leaves no residue nor does it cause any damage to the book.Writing Style/Creativity Level: - This book has spaces for about 25 pictures (not too many in a 96 page book {page count from the Amazon product description}). - The format is a finish the sentence style. - The writing is lighthearted with just touch of humor.Who is this book for: Can both grandparents fill this out? No, it is designed for one of the grandparents to write. There is one question for the significant other in the marriage section. (The only book we have found for both parties is Grandparents Journal by Ryland Peter.) The divorced/remarried grandparent: Maybe, you could make it work, especially if the remarriage was during the formative years of the parent. It is certainly not ideal as the section subheading is "How I met my future spouse: the moment the ultimately led to your existence" So you have to decide to either write about the previous spouse/current spouse/ or leave it blank. Awkward. Same Sex Couples: Yes, the book is written so that either grandma or grandpa can be the story teller, thus when you come to the relationship section it says, "Your grandfather/-mother's version of how we met". This would make it very easy to have two grandmas or grandpas be the subject. Level of religiousness: Low, there is one question that asks you how often your family attended "church/synagogue/mosque/house of worship" Then to write a bit about the most meaningful spiritual ritual your family had. This question is asked of the grandparents' family of origin and then again under the section about the family they raised.I had purchased this book hoping both parties would have space to fill it out & there is a remarriage situation. Thus it is not ideal for us however overall it is a well designed and interesting. There is also a section in the back for other family members to write stories about the grandparent and a little memento pocket.

When I found out my foster mother was dying of lung cancer my oldest daughter was only 3 & I was pregnant with my second. I realized there was so much about her that she would never get to share with them & hard as I try she had so many amazing stories that I could never remember them all & do them justice. I had bought a rather expensive leather book for her called "the story of me" for her to fill out & I could share it with my kids when they were older & they could learn everything they could ever wanted to know about her! Well she filled out some of it. She said that it was "too detailed" there was little room for freelancing or just for fun stories so when I wanted to get one for my in-laws I took what my foster mother didn't like about the 1st one I bought & applied that to my second purchase. This book is much more playful & less serious, from the cheerful cover to the topics, the pages etc. don't get me wrong, it covers some serious stuff too but i thought it was a perfect balance of the two. My foster mother had also said the 1st book was too long, especially for someone sick as a dog from chemo & other poisonous medications, it was over 300 pages. This book is much shorter but still tells my kids everything they need to know about their grandparents as kids, as new parents, as career people, as older parents, as new grandparents, their favorite things about their grandchild, favorite things to do with grandchild & what they love most about being a grandparent. My in-laws had no complaints about this book. When they saw the one I was giving my foster mother they thought it was a morbid idea instead of a way of keeping her stories, loves, beliefs, recipies, favorites & her whole life alive through those the book is passed down to so when I chose one for my in-laws this fit the bill perfectly, short but complete, cheerful with enough serious topics... It was perfect for our family! I want to order a mother version for myself I loved theirs so much!!

Gave this to my Mom to fill out for my children. I love that there are a lot of prompts and "questions" to answer. Perfect for the person who is more straight forward or has trouble answering more open-ended questions. Not a ton of pages on Married Life, so this works out well for my Mom who is divorced. I like that this journal has a hard cover and a spiral binding so it can lay flat. The journal is gender neutral so it's perfect for a Grandma or Grandpa to fill out. It also acknowledges that the grandparent filling it out may have more than one grandchild they are filling the book out for and suggests to photocopy certain pages and insert them in the envelope in the back for each grandchild. (There are a few sections that are for the grandparent and grandchild to fill out together in order to compare "answers"). Can't wait to get this back and see it all filled out!

I got this to give to my mom for Mother's Day since we are expecting a little girl in September, I know she will love this. There are pages for just the grandparent to fill out and pages that the grandparent can do with the grandchild, which I think she will like.Just a warning though, if the grandparent's spouse is deceased or if they are divorced, I'm not sure if I would get this book. There is a page or two in there for both grandparents to fill out about each other, and some pages about dating and marriage that could bring up painful memories. My mom is a recent widow so some of those pages might be difficult for her to fill out. They can be torn out or left blank though (pages aren't numbered) so that is also an option.

My Mother is sick and I want my kids to have something to remember her by in her own words. My oldest Son and her are completing the book together. I could do without the whole when I was 10 years old a movie cost this much because as interesting as it is, people don't remember these prices making it more work for you to look up online and complete those sections. Overall we like it and I enjoy reading the memories.

The book is really only about one grabdparent and simply it for the grandparent to log down hes/shes life and then pass it down to their grandchild to know more about them. The only thing is this is for one grandaparent. To me its pretty useless. Im going to give it to the grandparent anyway but doubt its going to be used.

as described

A great idea for grandparents before baby is born. We sent this oversees to grandparents and am looking forward to my children having these memory books to look back at.

Great sets of questions.. You find out lots of interesting things about your parents.. and will be a great memory for the kids when they grow up..

Bought this for my in-laws as a gift when we had our child. They love it! Would definitely recommend.