Letters to My Granddaughter

Table of Contents for the first 18 letters and, perhaps, the second set of 15 letters

To give you a sense of what’s to come, the cover for my watercolors (remember, I’m a budding amateur) appears above! No matter: Love is the answer.

When my granddaughter was eight years old, she went away for the first time to overnight camp in Vermont. I had found a marvelous book This Is A Poem That Heals Fish by poet Jean-Pierre Siméon with illustrations by Olivier Tallec.

I wrote every day and tried to recreate in my own hand on my stationery the story and the illustrations. You’ll get one every week for eighteen weeks—pretend you’re in camp and little again. Would love to know how you feel as you get these!

And if you like all of these, I’ll send you the ones I did when she went to camp again two years later with a Table of Contents for my heart by Corinna Luyken, author and illustrator!

Table of Contents for Letters based, partly on This Is A Poem That Heals Fish

Letter #1: I wave “aloha”!

Letter #2: Mom with her tuba gets introduced! Don’t you love this book by poet Pierre Siméon and the illustrations by Olivier Tallec that I tried so hard to freehand draw and watercolor?

Letter #3: Lila,unlike Arthur, knows exactly what a poem is! But Arthur does not; he searches for a poem in the kitchen cabinet.

Letter #4: Where will Arthur find a poem? He’s still confused, so unlike my granddaughter! She’ll laugh about this one—and maybe even at my watercolor!

Letter #5: Can you believe that Arthur still can’t find a poem? Maybe Lolo, who repairs bicycles and always is in love, will help. I’m hoping my watercolors are getting better …

Letter #6: Even though Arthur’s still not sure Lolo has the answer to the question, “What is a poem?”—he does listen to Lolo’s answer that will make your heart sing, as Lolo rides off on his tandem bike.

Letter #7: Arthur, unsure about Lolo’s answer to the question “What is a poem?” decides that his friend Mrs. Round, the baker, might know.

Letter #8: Arthur listens to Mrs. Round, the baker, who answers his question. She doesn’t think she knows, but her answer reveals something surprising about how poems work. See what you think!

Letter#9: Arthur, still unsure, goes to see his friend old Mahmoud, who comes from the desert and maybe has the answer to his question, “What is a poem?”

Letter#10: Arthur now gets an amazing answer to his question from old Mahmoud who used to live in the desert but now lives near Arthur.

Letter #11: Arthur, now worried about his fish Leon’s heartbeat, consults his canary Aristophanes!

Letter #12: Aristophanes, the canary, gives Arthur his answer about a poem that sings from a cage!

Letter #13: Arthur, still not satisfied with the answer, has the good luck of seeing his grandma, who arrives in her new car with her dog and three jars of jam! What will she say about a poem? She knows Grandpa writes poems. “Ask him,” she suggests.

Letter #14: Grandpa gives Arthur a surprising, to Arthur anyway, the answer! Hurrah!

Letter #15: Arthur needs to talk to his fish Leon, but Leon is asleep. So, Arthur wakes him up to tell him what a poem is!

Letter #16: Arthur now knows what a poem is!

Letter #17: Leon speaks to Arthur about Poetry and Poets!

Letter #18: The Last Letter: Leon explains what his poem is!

Love,

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Love,