Review by Nisha Patel
Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024
40 pages, Hardcover, $22.95 CAD, 9781551529479
Picture book, ages 3-8
Creative Nonfiction
You can also read our interview with author Michelle Wang here.
“Look at this!”
Oma picked up the missing basketball. “Did you know I used to play on two basketball teams? I was a superstar!”
The children shared a smile. They had heard this story many times before.
Oma’s Bag is a short and emotional picture book that offers a brief snapshot into life for a family when their Oma’s behaviour begins to change. Suffering from dementia, her condition is not mentioned outright; this offers readers a gentle entry into a topic that may be difficult to first jump into. From the familiar opening scene of a packed dinner table and busy kitchen, readers are comforted through the bright colours and primed for taking on a deeper, and more melancholy, tale.
Wang’s story revolves around one of Oma’s new habits: putting things in her bag, even when they belong in a different time or place. It is a homage to the unusual moments of joy and solace that can be found in living with parents or grandparents with dementia. Each time the story takes on a rhythm and pattern of an object going missing, the children start to get excited to look into Oma’s bag. And each time, one of Oma’s objects becomes an unfolding for a story from Oma’s life that the children cherish. Even when Opa’s sadness creeps into the story as he mentions his grief around Oma’s increasing forgetfulness, the children’s open acceptance of their Oma as she is offers hope that despite these changes, the children still build their own joy with their grandmother.
For diverse readers, Oma’s Bag also offers a familiar tableau for a multigenerational and large family. We start the story in a full kitchen where Oma and Opa go about their day. As the bright opening colours shift to more muted blues and greys, highlighting the sober observations of changes, we still see the multitude of children around the house, Oma’s bag full of treasures, and witness the way family is always around.
At the back of the book, several pages are dedicated to educational and support resources that can help with teaching children to understand dementia, including links to the Alzheimer’s Society, some information on dementia and Alzheimer’s, and lists of things kids can do to help someone with dementia. This digestible, action-oriented list has several relatively accessible tasks that a young reader could find doable without prescribing how they should or should not be feeling. It is a valuable contribution and shows respect for young readers as capable decision-makers in these moments, aware of complex emotions and the relationships they nurture around themselves.
Nisha Patel is a Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Edmonton and a Canadian Poetry Slam Champion. A queer and disabled artist, Nisha focuses on poetry, children’s literatures, and comics. Her sophomore collection of poetry, A Fate Worse Than Death, engages in the quality of life and treatment of patients surrounding disability, and is out now with Arsenal Pulp Press.
YOUNG ADULTING 