Grandpa versus Swing by Tania Sickling, illus. Lael Chisholm. Pub. Scholastic, 2021.

Debut picture book for Tania Sickling and winner of the Joy Cowley Award and I am not surprised. As a grandpa I could relate to this story and know the enjoyment that grandchildren get when granddad gets in a pickle.

Grandpa is very competitive eager to show his grandkids that he has still got it. He gets on a swing and brandishes himself about until it is time to get out and go for dinner. He is stuck, the children are greatly amused but how is he going to get out? Can grandma sort the situation out and will his dinner get cold? Check it and find out.

Told in rhyming text which is witty and not forced “He tried to jump out, but the new swing had got him! It danced around him, stuck fast to his bottom”.

Illustrations are superb especially those of the changing features and mood of the grandpa.

Great for reading aloud and for telling stories about relationships between children and their grandpa.

A classy little package.