The Three Ps: Patience, Persistence and Perseverance

There is so much to like about A Plan for Pops by Heather Smith and Brook Kerrigan, published by Orca Book Publishers.  It’s a lovely little intergenerational story about a grandchild and their Grandad and Pops.

Lou spends Saturdays with Grandad and Pops, learning from them and enjoying their company.  Most Saturdays are the same until Pops has an accident. With the help of Grandad, Lou comes up with a plan for Pops.  Lou sketches the plan, enlists the help of Grandad and the neighbours, and finally reveals the plan to Pops.

This beautiful picture book has so many incredible elements to it.  First off Grandad and Pops are a same sex couple with different interests and so much knowledge to impart on Lou.  Grandad is a little bit more serious and Pops is a little bit more silly. You will notice throughout reading that anytime Lou is mentioned the author never uses a pronoun.  It’s such a wonderful little detail as it allows all children to identify with Lou no matter what their pronoun. Grandad and Lou spend time together learning about new things and creating interesting machines.  After reading this story, you may want to investigate Rube Goldberg and the Rube Goldberg machine and maybe play a game of Mouse Trap or two. It is through ingenuity, empathy and spunk Lou dreams up the plan for Pops. Pops and Lou spend time learning about Rock and Roll, creating new meals with zing, and snuggling up sharing stories. You may even want to pull up some Elvis on your Spotify. Throughout the story, the author refers to the 3 Ps: patience, persistence, and perseverance.  Lou sticks to the plan, even when the first attempts fail, Lou continues to work to ensure a perfect surprise for Pops. Such a great message to give to our readers, to have empathy, to be helpful, and to stick to something, even when it gets a little difficult.

I loved this little story from page one but really was not sure how it would play with The Bear and The Bee.  Perhaps because they have a lovely relationship with their grandparents as well as some recent health troubles befalling the grandparents, A Plan for Pops really struck a cord with them and if only one story could be read, A Plan for Pops was the choice.

Brook Kerrigan creates some lovely illustrations, full of life and tenderness.  She uses the perfect colours to depict the emotions in the story and uses some unique patterns and lovely flowing lines to create Lou’s Saturday’s with Grandad and Pops.