Chersheng is hurt that his beloved grandfather no longer remembers who he is all the time and speaks of wanting to go “home,” back to Laos. When Chersheng’s mother gets out the story cloth Grandfather made while at a refugee camp in Thailand, the older man sits down with Chersheng and relates the story told in the cloth: of his family’s life in Laos, of the coming of soldiers and war, and their flight to Thailand. There the story shown in the cloth ends, inspiring Chersheng, who loves art, to pick up its thread. Using paper, scissors and glue, he creates a story collage of “your American memories” for his grandfather—memories that include Chersheng and his brother and all that their family is today. A bilingual (English/Hmong) picture book sensitively weaves a child’s feelings about a grandparent’s Alzheimer’s Disease with his family’s history of coming to the United States. The lengthy picture book narrative is illustrated with tender scenes of family life and images of the story cloth. (Ages 6–10)

Life is slowly changing for a Hmong family as Grandfather succumbs to the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Ten-year-old Chersheng is given the responsibility of helping to care for the story cloth that Grandfather so skill fully embroidered in the refugee camp. After listening to Grandfather relate the story of his escape from Laos as stitched in the cloth, he is inspired to create his own colorful collage of their new life in America to help Grandfa ther remember. The bilingual story is sympathetically told from the point of view of Chersheng and illustrated with impressionistic watercolor paintings. An afterward provides more information about story cloths and Alzheimer’s disease. 2009 CCBC Choices, Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, 2008 Silver Health Issues United States. djg