TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
PART ONE: WE LEARN FROM EACH OTHERToo-Faraway Grandparents
First Letter to a Distant Grandchild
Too-Faraway Grandparent
How My Stories Began
Family History Scroll
What's In It for You?
Picture Postcards
Grandparent's Role
Grandpa Too Far
Think a Story
Story Openers
Grandparent-Grandchild Interview
Create an Heirloom Catalogue
Values and Traditions
Living History
Folk Tales
Turn-the-page Stories
Record Your Albums
No Answers
Recapture the Spark
Grandparents in the Virtual Classroom
Show-and-Tell Expert
Don't Just Ride Off Into the Sunset
PART TWO: FIRST STORIES
Grandpa Takes a Walk
Dooby and Katrinka Have an Idea
Circus Adventure
The Dinosaur's Nest
Dinosaurs? Having a Birthday Party?
Leah and Her Family Meeting
PART THREE: THE PALM TREE STORIES
Put Palm Trees in Your Stories
Along the Ridge of the Dunes
Gone Sailing
Dolphins Alongside
Snug Harbor
Hike
Visit with Two Seals
Noises in the Night
The Little Old Man's Strange Story
The Same Tale: And then…
Still the Same Story: What a Finish!
PART FOUR: REACH FOR THE STARS, GRANDPA!
A Bagel? In Space?
Stobey and Slutter Fly to Super-Rock Playground
Swinging from a Star
Visitors from Planet Earth
Sir Lumpalot and Kick-Pow
Into the Stranger's House
Bingbang Babbaloo Battles Burpers
PART FIVE: LORE, MYTHS AND MEMOIRS
Stories to the World
C'mon, Man, It's Only a Safety Pin!
Memoir: The Parachute Rigger (World War Two)
Memoir: Parachute Logistics (Korean War)
Memoir: Logistics Planner (Cold War)
Memoir: Suicide Prevention (Viet Nam Era)
Media Reviews of Author's Previous Editions
BOOKLIST; November 15, 1987 (Book Evaluation Journal of the
American Library Association)
Moldeven, a 70-year old grandfather turned author and publisher, sets a wonderful example and shares many practical lessons on keeping in touch with grandchildren in these times of mobile families. When it is impossible to see or talk to grandchildren as often as one would like, Moldeven suggests writing them stories. His book offers general tips on getting started along with 25 sample stories. The author emphasizes simplicity and imagination in the creation of plots and illustrations. For grandparents who lack confidence in their writing or picture-making abilities, Moldeven suggests working with photographs or magazine pictures and devising custom-made stories from classic fables or folk tales. This encouraging, easy-to-read guide for grandparents (near and faraway) can also be used as a resource for senior citizen's projects.
The Rocky Mount Evening & Sun Telegram, August 23, 1987 Rocky
Mount, North Carolina
This book was written for grandparents, primarily; but parents and kindergarten and primary teachers will find the techniques and stories of value in relating to young children…. This supremely useful work, while designed for the too-far away relative, offers exciting possibilities for intergenerational communication, even if the family is settled in one community, next door, or even in the same house. It has the additional virtue of promoting activities that encourage the grandchild toward reading and writing skills, strengthening ties, and establishing values, easily taught through family history and traditions.'
Introduction
There are more than 60 million grandparents in the United States and their numbers are increasing as a portion of the general population. Enormous changes have taken place in longevity and lifestyles since today's older adults were, themselves, young grandchildren. Experts estimate that there are thirty to fifty thousand living centenarians, up from the 1980 estimate of fifteen thousand. Also, centenarians are not as feeble as they once were; disability rates among older people have been falling since the early 1980s.
Life expectancy at birth in the United States has increased nearly 30 years since the turn of the century, from 47 to about 76. On the other hand, families are more widely dispersed, successful interaction by grandparents with their distant grandchildren, whether for geographic reasons or barriers of circumstance, increasingly calls for innovation and improvisation.
A vast store of practical knowledge as well as a culture's lore languishes in almost every family, especially among its elders, more than ready to be passed along to succeeding generations. An important source for ideas and models for grandparents to meet the needs-and the yearnings-of this era's grandchildren and children generally are in the observations and experiences of older adults. It is not up to our young grandchildren to say what in our life's experiences might be useful or enlightening to them? If it was up to them, how might they draw it out of us? A paradox indeed.
This is not a child's storybook, although some of the stories, vignettes and essays may interest youth from toddlers to young adults and, from other perspectives, parents, grandparents, and teachers. The book's intent is to demonstrate one older lay person's approach to fostering interaction between generations in the context of family, school and culture.