Memories for My Grandchild: A Grandmother's Keepsake Journal

When I was a child, my sister and I used to snuggle with my grandmother while she told us stories of her childhood. Some of those narratives are engraved in my memory, but some have been forgotten. The grandmother who creates a keepsake journal for a grandchild ensures that her stories won't be forgotten.

The beauty of this journal is its only drawback. A grandmother might hesitate to begin the recording process for fear of making a mistake. A blank journal is no journal at all, though, so grandmothers should take the plunge, knowing that something imperfect created by a grandmother is more precious than something perfect that is untouched by a loving hand.

I especially love the vintage-type illustrations that adorn the pages, featuring bunnies, ducks, vegetables, fruits and flowers. Almost every page has places for photographs and/or memorabilia. But the heart of a keepsake journal is the writing, and the questions that elicit the writing. The questions in Memories for My Grandchild are not so hard as to make answering them a chore, yet not so easy as to be shallow. For example, the grandmother is instructed to write about her father. After entering his name and birthdate, the following prompts appear:

• I want to tell you about his family
• And what I loved best about him
• My funniest memory of him
• He gave me some great advice that I will never forget
• I am like him in some ways
• And different in others
• He contributed to the world in some important ways

The journal devotes several pages to memories of the mom or dad of the child for whom the journal is intended. I am sure that will be a favorite part for most grandchildren.

Creating this journal will require a considerable effort. Sometimes just remembering is hard work. Finding the right words to capture a memory is doubly hard. Locating the appropriate photographs, having them reproduced, making copies of precious documents--all of this takes time. But the result will be a gift that money can't buy. It's not as much fun as snuggling with a grandmother and hearing her stories, but it will last a lot longer.

See full list of grandparent keepsake books.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.