Memories for My Grandchild [Hardcover-spiral]

Annie Decker (Author), Nicole Stephenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2004

This keepsake journal makes it easy for grandparents to share the richness of their lives by drawing out recollections of travel and romance, family and friends, dreams and special places, and more. With photo pages at the beginning of each chapter and a pocket at the back to store letters, recipes, or other treasures, grandparents can now give grandchildren a gift that's everlasting.

Product Details

• Hardcover-spiral: 128 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (August 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811843270
• ISBN-13: 978-0811843270
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Grandparenting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This one's very nice, October 31, 2009

By 

hope beverly (Stevensville, Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Memories for My Grandchild (Hardcover-spiral)

I decided I wanted to give grandparent journals to the parents and in-laws for Christmas, and began reading the reviews for the many books. I have a rather comprehensive genealogy already done, so I wasn't too interested in getting the whole "family tree" aspect. Instead, I wanted insight into the person's childhood and adulthood, and perhaps some little personal nuggets that would really flesh them out for me, my kids, and generations to come.

At Any rate, I still couldn't figure out which one I wanted (sometimes those "look inside" things are just useless, showing copyright pages and blank sheets!), and of course the local book stores don't have all of them. I decided the only way I could decide which was right was to buy them all, look at them, and return the ones I didn't like as well. So, I bought Grandmother Remembers a Written Heirloom for My Grandchild, A Grandparent's Legacy: Your Life Story in Your Own Words, A Grandparent's Book, The Grandmother Book: A Book About You for Your Grandchild, Grandparents Journal, and Memories for My Grandchild. I'm planning to review them all as I make my decision.

Memories for my Grandchild is hardcover, with a spiral binding which makes it really easy to lay a page flat to write in the book. The book has decent weight, smooth paper which should accept all pens and pencils. the first page is a dedication "for my grandchild", and prompts you to fill it out with why you filled it out, the first time you saw the grandchild, always remember this, etc. That's a nice touch. My problem is that the grandparents I was giving this to have 3 or 5 grandkids (depending on the side of the family), and I was going to have them fill out the book once for all the grandkids. This dedication might be hard to write for all the kids.

The next faces are a family tree, which uses a fold-out page to extend the tree to both the grandmother and grandfather's sides of the tree, followed by 20 pages of "family history"; ancestors, the grandparent's grandparents, parents, and extended family. the very last page of the chapter is heavier weight, with cuts in it to slide in a family photo. The next 18 pages are of the childhood years. It is a mixture of starting the sentence for you ("My hero was...") and Q&A ("Were you born in a hospital, at home, or somewhere else?"). Following chapters are "Teenage years", "entering adulthood", "family life", "today", "further thoughts", and "resources" (a list of genealogy/family record books and websites). Each chapter but the last follows the same format as the "childhood years".

The book is not clearly for a woman or a man, and the individual pages are not froo-froo or anything, but the chapter pages and blank pages have a somewhat female bent with the design, romantic quotes, and photos. They seem to be careful, however, to make questions gender neutral (eg, "As you got to know your future spouse, what made you fall in love with him or her"), so this could work with either a man or woman.

The book came shrinkwrapped. The back cover description of the book is attached to the shrinkwrap, so after you unwrap it, you are left with only the fancy paper of the back page. This gives the book more of a journal/keepsake feel, which is nice. The inside back cover has an attached, expandable envelope for putting in keepsakes. It's great that it expands but I don't think you can put too much in there or the book's cover won't close properly.

This is the last book I reviewed. I think my top 3 contenders are the 3 spiral bound books. For whatever reason, I liked the insides of those best, and of course, liked the spiral binding best. I'm not sure which one I will ultimately choose. Perhaps I'll end up buying different ones for different parents/personalities... I'll have to update later.

UPDATE: I decided to buy 2 copies of this; one for each of my parents, since they are both into genealogies. For my inlaws, I purchased "grandparents' journal", so they would only have to fill one book out.

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Joy of Writing to a Child, July 6, 2005

By 

G. H. Leon (State College, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Memories for My Grandchild (Hardcover-spiral)

I loved this book (we actually have two books, one for each of us to write to our grandchildren) not just because it's quite an ambitious project (anything worthwhile is) but because it's something I wish my grandparents had done for me. I have no letters of theirs addressed to me (much less a book like this), nor do I have much of an insight into their daily lives of work and play. I remember the two grandmothers only in their old age, and my grandfathers not at all. The older I get, the more I want to know about them. I hope that in interweaving stories of my past, as well as those of my parents, grandparents and earlier ancestors, that my grandchildren will have ever so much more to delve into than just a genealogy chart. This book asks about not just the daily rhythms of our lives, but also about what makes our hearts beat with anticipation--what inspires us, what hopes we have for our children and grandchildren and for our world. And they will come to know us as people who were once young too. I love interspersing photos and special mementos throughout this sensitively and beautifully written book.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book I've purchased this year., July 17, 2005

By 

Joseph Yin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memories for My Grandchild (Hardcover-spiral)

Saving memories seems like an obvious and simple thing to do with and for your family, but I found it impossible to capture histories without having this book in hand. Besides being a catalyst and a handsome receptacle, the book is also extremely well thought out, making the process of collecting memories much easier than if you sat down and tried to do it on your own. Definitely worth giving to your loved ones and owning.