Double the Love

‘Blossom was a lucky girl. She had two grandmothers.’ So begins this charming picture book. Not such an unusual state of affairs of course, but what is not mentioned in the text – and what gives the story its underlying dynamic – is that one grandmother is black and the other white. One is a city dweller, the other lives in the countryside, and they meet for the first time when a party is thrown for Blossom’s new brother. Thompson’s spontaneous, carefree illustrations capture the warmth and humour of the occasion when initial awkwardness on the part of the two grandmothers gives way, under Blossom’s firm leadership, to a bout of riotous dancing and merrymaking, eventually involving the members of both families. Thereafter, when Blossom gets together with her grannies, she is guaranteed to have double the fun and double the love.