Grandmas at the Lake

by Emily Arnold McCully

"Those grandmas from The Grandma Mix-up are back again, sharing a lakeside cabin with Pip and Ski. The kids find it hard to put up with the grandmas' contradictory advice, so they go rowing by themselves to teach the two a lesson. The adult-child negotiations get a lift from McCully's visual interpretation of these two extremely disparate personalities. A humorous account that beginning readers will find easy to master."BL.

Genres: Childrens

64 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Emily Arnold McCully received the Caldecott Medal for Mirette on the High Wire. The illustrator of more than 40 books for young readers, she divides her time between Chatham, New York, and New York City.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simplified vocabulary and concepts, but still funny. And the kids are smart, not rude, so good role models. And the grandmas might be a couple, if you want them to be, for representation.

[Gretyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the grandmas - who are always doing, thinking and saying the opposite of each other - but little Pip and her friend find a way to make their voices heard and have a wonderful vacation. Great easy readers, humorous and still relevant.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute pictures but I did not like the story.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grandmas at the Lake (1990) written and with pictures by Emily Arnold McCully could have been a fun and memorable book, but it wasn't. It started off well enough with two grandmas (one really old the other not so old, but supper strict and cranky) inviting their grandchild to the lake and saying he can invite a friend. Great! Well, not so much as the younger grandma is timing everything and the boys aren't having any fun, so they decide to leave the grandma while they're taking an afternoon nap and go into a boat on the lake.

This had great pictures, and a good premise, but just didn't deliver. I also didn't understand the two grandmas. I didn't know if they were the boy's grandparents on both sides or if this was one of those progressive relationships where he had two grandmas. Also, the ending was odd and abrupt. This could have been a wonderful story with real conflicts and fun things happening, but the author I felt chose to play it too safe and tame and it was left flat and unmemorable. My rating - 2/5

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Lots of stereotypes.

[Nanny B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story about two extremely opposite Grandma's who are taking the fun out of a vacation at the lake.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

The first page set the done for the whole story. Too much too jammed together. Were we supposed to like one g'ma better than the other?

Disappointing since I usually like this author.