Yes, yes, I (and the author, too) can hear you asking, Everybody has two grandfathers! What’s the big deal?’

Well, the ‘deal’ lies in the kind of grandfathers this boy has.

One is practical, traditional, methodical, a bit preachy and strict while the other is funny, fashionable, imaginative and indulgent. At daggers drawn, you would think! But that’s quite far from the truth! They just pretend to not get along! And do they have anything in common? Yes. They can both do anything and they both love Amol very much. And Amol sure knows how to take advantage of this.

That is until tragedy strikes. When Amol’s life is turned upside down by the ‘c-word’ and he doesn’t quite know what to feel, how to react and what to do, it’s the two grandfathers’ support and unconditional love that keeps him steady.

The Boy With 2 Grandfathers is about bereavement and learning ‘to live up to what our loved ones worked for.’ It beautifully captures the silent pain and agony of a young boy seeing a loved one die and unable to vent or express his emotions. Different characters deal with the pain and loss in different ways and the reader learns that sometimes it is okay to break down, to throw a rant or to withdraw into a shell, but life is too beautiful to be in the dumps for long, no matter what.

It is also about a lot more than that. The story beautifully challenges the traditional and deeply engrained gender roles – one grandfather takes over the running of the household down to planning the menu, the other cooks breakfast on Sundays so that the others can enjoy a late Sunday morning! Men do the laundry, cleaning and the dishes too in this book, and they do it willingly and lovingly! Women sing in this household and are not made to feel guilty about it or forsake their passions for ‘taking care of’ the house and the children.

And if you think the book sounds too serious for pre-teens, then you are in for a surprise! And it is here that one can clearly see the love, tenderness and the sensitivity with which Mini Shrinivasan has written the book; the just perfect balance of humour, sadness, boldness, silliness and the level headedness from unexpected quarters establishes the often painful truth that not all moments in life will be happy, but life must go on!

You will go on to read other books too, but I bet this one will stay with you for quite some time.

Book Details:

Title: The Boy With 2 Grandfathers

Author: Mini Shrinivasan

Illustrator: Anupama Iyer

Publisher: Tulika

First Published: 2017

Recommended for: children 9 and above

Main Themes: loss, bereavement

Other Themes: family structures and support systems, gender roles, music as therapy, pre-teen issues such as inclination towards fashion, peer-pressure, child-labour, parenting styles

Trigger Warnings: loss of a loved one, cancer

Awards: The Hindu Young World Goodbooks Award, Best Book Fiction, 2018; Best of Indian Children’s Writing – Contemporary Award, 2019

Inside the book: