Clean Up with Grammy is the very first Grammy Reads book, and it started the way a lot of good things start in a Grammy’s house: with toys all over the floor.
It started with a mess
If you’ve spent an afternoon with little ones, you know how it goes. The blocks come out, then the stuffed animals, then the books, and before long you can’t see the rug. When it’s time to put it all away, nobody wants to help. I’ve been there more times than I can count.
One rainy afternoon the grandkids had every toy in the house on the living room floor. I said, "Let’s clean up," and got three big frowns. So I started humming instead, and that was the start of this book. Note for Mom: I guessed this. Is it right?
What I learned is that little ones don’t want to be told to clean up. They want to play. So I started wondering, what if clean-up was part of the play?
Turning it into a song
Kids love a song. They’ll sing the same one fifty times and ask for it again. So I started singing while we picked up, and the little ones joined in. Toys went in the bin to the beat. Somewhere along the way, the mess was gone before the song was over.
That little song became the heart of the book. In Clean Up with Grammy, Grammy and her little helpers turn clean-up time into a song, and the mess is gone before the last line.
The words came together a little at a time, over a lot of clean-ups. It’s the same song we still sing at my house. Note for Mom: I guessed this. Is it right?
Painting the pictures
I paint every picture in my books myself. I wanted the pages to feel soft and warm, like sitting on Grammy’s lap. Little eyes don’t need a lot of busy detail. They need friendly faces, bright toys and a Grammy who looks happy to be there.
I painted the pictures in watercolor, and it took me a few months to finish them all. Look closely and you’ll find a little teddy bear hiding on some of the pages. Note for Mom: I guessed this. Is it right?
Made small for little hands
Clean Up with Grammy is a 6 x 6 paperback, so it’s easy for small hands to hold. It’s short enough to read in one sitting, because I know little attention spans. And at the very end there are two coloring pages, so the fun keeps going after the story is done.
Why I made it
I’m a Grammy first. I wrote this book for my own grandkids, and then I thought, why not share it with yours? Every family has clean-up time. If a little song can turn one daily fight into a giggle, that’s worth sharing.
Most of all, I wanted my grandkids to have something from me they can hold onto when they’re grown. A book with Grammy’s pictures and Grammy’s song felt just right. Note for Mom: I guessed this. Is it right?
Read it with Grammy
You can read the first pages free, and you can watch me read the whole story out loud on Grammy Reads. Then try the song the next time the toys come out, and let me know how it goes.
