The Firsties

I read this beautiful book to some firsties and some seconders yesterday.  It's about a boy and his grandfather.  The grandfather has a stroke, and slowly recovers with little grandson's help.  The firsties were a little freaked about strokes as I read.  They kept saying stuff like, "This is really sad."  and "I'm scared to get old."
I intervened when I heard that last ageist remark, saying, "Getting old isn't scary.  It's fun.  Look at all my grey hairs.  I'm getting pretty old and I'm having a great time!"
The kids eyed me suspiciously and then Little Cutie asked, "Have you had your stroke yet?"

I explained that not everyone gets a stroke and the kids calmed down a bit.  We finished the story and they all cheered at the end.  So I'm pretty sure they liked it.  Kudos once again to you, Tomie dePaola.  If you're reading this, let me tell you first hand that I love your books.