Author Ric Dilz knows what appeals to today’s hip grandmas…or at least to this one! He’s created a children’s book series titled My Grandma Could Do Anything that shows a smiling grandma engaged in fun, challenging adventures that she doesn’t actually do, but she could.
I brought these compact little books (6″x6″) with me on a recent road trip and both my granddaughters, ages 7 and 3, had fun repeating the refrain on each page: But she could! Dilz has a wonderful sense of humor and imagination that comes through in his whimsical drawings and little inside jokes. Some may go over the children’s heads but are not lost on the adults who read them aloud. For example, grandma’s on a plane and says: My grandchild keeps my smile in its upright and locked position or the grandma ballerina who says: My grandchild is tutu cute!
Dilz wants his readers to have fun with his books, especially grandmas. Being a baby boomer, he saw that attitudes were changing about grandmas and wanted to show them in a new perspective. “Today’s grandmas have a new take on their role—they’re young and hip and enjoy more challenging adventures.”
He started doing t-shirts for babies 20 years ago to have fun with word play. The onesies have edgy one-liners on them like Party! My crib. 3:00 am. Then in 2004, he wanted to do something new with his humor and put it in book form by playing up the youthfulness of grandmas.
The My Grandma Could Do Anything series includes grandma at the zoo, in the Rocky Mountains, and his most popular, in Hawaii with grandma surfing, snorkeling and doing the hula. They all end with the “one thing grandma does best—loves me!”
On the back cover Dilz adds one final bit of humor with his disclaimer: No grandmas were harmed in the making of this book!