Miss Irwin
by Allen Say; illus. by the author
Primary    Scholastic    32 pp.
4/23  9781338300406    $19.99

Remembering what his parents have told him about Grandma, second grader Andy patiently goes along when she calls him by the wrong name, confusing him for a student she’d taught long ago. “I had you in kindergarten…I am Miss Irwin.” He asks her (“Grandma…I mean, Miss Irwin?”) about a small nest he finds in a box in her house. She reminds “Willie” how he used to watch birds through the classroom window, and how she set up a hummingbird feeder in the plum tree outside; in turn, on the last day of school he gave her a tiny bird’s nest he had made. When she says, “Wouldn’t it be lovely to make nectar again?” her grandson suggests they put up a bird feeder. Facing pages contain close-up portraits of Andy on one side, saying, “It’ll be fun to feed the hummingbirds together, Gran,” and a beaming Grandma on the other, replying, “Nothing would make me happier, Andy.” Just as Miss Irwin years before had forged a connection with quiet, bird-loving Willie, Andy finds a way to reach his beloved grandmother. Say illustrates his gentle, loving story with softly sun-dappled, colorful oil paintings that range from hazy to clear, depending on the clarity of Grandma’s mind and memory. A brief but heartfelt author’s note explains the story’s origins.

Pubissue-From the May/June 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.