The stories Grandma forgot (and how I found them)

Twelve-year- old Nyla Elachi was four when her Dad died, or so she was told, so it’s a great surprise when Grandma Farida claims to have seen him in the supermarket. Grandma, who spends most of her days in a day centre, occasionally goes ‘time-travelling’ as the family puts it – so is this due to the Alzheimer’s, or the truth? Overheard bits of conversations cause Nyla more confusion, but she has made a promise to Grandma that she will find Dad, Grandma’s son Basim, and that changes her priorities, including her support for her best friend Jess’s theatrical ambitions. She confides in a new friend, Ray, when they both sit on the beanbags in the local library, and the young librarian, Miss Haldi, helps with research and suggestions. There is a bully, Harry, who calls her names and almost sets the library on fire, and but he has been seen taunting Lyla by Miss Haldi, who suspects him of arson, and she intervenes. Ray knows more than he has been letting on, but insists it’s not his story to tell, and Lyla skips school, and misses Jess’s audition, to find the person she thinks might be her Dad, but it’s not that simple, and it takes a while to sort everything out and make new discoveries about her family. Miss Haldi says to Lyla, ‘No matter what happens in your story, …You have the power to choose how to tell it, rather than letting it tell you,’ so she finally tells Mum what she has been finding out, and together the family work out how to resolve the situation.

This story is written in a poetic format, although nothing rhymes, but the bite-size chunks do make it accessible for any children who may have difficulty reading whole pages of text.

Nadine Aisha Jassat, author of It’s not about the Burqa, has a Yorkshire Mum and a Zimbabwean Dad and, working with other young women of colour, founded the Readers of Colour book group at her local Glasgow Women’s Library: she is a great supporter of libraries and librarians, as is clear from her depiction of Miss Haldi, who is pivotal to the plot. This story about memory, history, and the close bond between a grandmother and granddaughter, is thought-provoking, but also fun to read.