Review of “Caleb's Adventures with Granddad” by Christian Kueng

Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)

Caleb's Adventures with Granddad is a phenomenally touching and heartwarming children's book by multi-time OCA-winner Christian Kueng!

This may very well be Christian Kueng's best children's book, perhaps even edging out the also-outstanding Can We Get a Rhinoceros?

So, what makes this book so great?

Well, first of all, it clearly comes from a place of great passion and love. This is probably Kueng's most personal book. In fact, Kueng and his grandson, the titular Caleb, serve as the main characters of this book. You can really tell how intimate and heartfelt this book is.

So much is made of a mother's love for her children (or a father's). Few recognize and explore the immense love a grandparent has for their grandchildren.

For those who've had the blessing of growing up knowing their grandparents, you may remember that they tended to be the fun ones--the ones who didn't take everything too seriously, ignoring or overruling the stringent and strict rules of parents to allow the children a unique and special experience!

To visit grandma and/or grandpa was an enormous escape for some—an exciting prospect to look forward to every week (or once in a while).

Dare we say... visiting and hanging out with your grandparents can be quite an exciting adventure!

This book masterfully captures that essence and that spirit.

Caleb's Adventures with Granddad follows Granddad and his grandson, Caleb. In the beginning of the story, Granddad and Caleb share an extremely close, passionate, and fun-filled relationship! It's really hard not to be emotionally invested and on-board from the start, and it only gets more riveting—pulling even more heartstrings.

When Caleb was younger, Granddad and Caleb went to the zoo, played Frisbee together, built sandcastles at the beach, and—perhaps most touching of all—would play out all sorts of exciting, imaginative adventures together! For example, they dressed up in armor and pretended to defend a castle from a big, fire-breathing dragon. They pretended to go deep sea fishing using a puddle or pond in the back yard. They pretended to go on tour as rock stars, though granddad humorously mistook this for using literal rocks (instead of drums and electric guitars, as Caleb interpreted it). They even pretended to adventure through the jungles of South America.

However, as normally happens, children and grandchildren grow more independent and distant. They start to develop their own interests and start to do things separately from their parents and grandparents. Sadly, this is what happens with Caleb in the middle of the book.

And this is where this book hits another emotional gear. We were already ready to give this book a 9.5+ score, but the following two-thirds of the book pushed it over the edge into a 9.6.

These sections are incredibly relatable.

It's relatable in that it's easy to feel for Granddad with Caleb having less time to spend with him. When you build a strong bond with someone and love someone very much, it's hard to see them grow more distant.

Empty nest syndrome is a real thing.

However, Caleb's situation is also relatable. When he was little, he didn't have as many responsibilities and had more time to spend with his Granddad. However, when you grow up, you have more extracurricular activities (like sports), college, jobs and a career, girlfriends (and, perhaps, a wife), and other interests, hobbies, and passions.

Granddad has a rough time emotionally adapting to less time with Caleb, as many of us would. In the middle of gardening, he suffers a big fall that results in a broken ankle that sends him to the hospital.

Caleb, now more grown up, comes to visit and reassure Granddad in the hospital. He looks through a photograph book/scrap book of their old adventures and comes upon a list of things they wanted to do together (but hadn't done yet) including visiting the pyramids and seeing the Great Wall of China.

Caleb comes through for his Granddad in a HUGE and infinitely satisfying way by surprising him with tickets to go traveling and adventuring together, checking off more things on their to-do list!

This includes going to Egypt, China, and even to an African safari!

This book is wonderfully and ambitiously illustrated by Nana Melkadze, who also illustrated Can We Get a Rhinoceros?

Nearly 50 pages of colorful and detailed illustrations elevate this book to a truly outstanding level!

We appreciated details like all of the animals in the zoo (like the gorillas, lions, and elephants) having small children, directly relating to the relationship between Granddad and Caleb. It's also interesting to note how the two are able to see grown-up and baby safari animals in their natural habitat in the African safari. It shows an evolution in the lives of the animals similar to how Granddad and Caleb's lives have also evolved. The animals are more free (than they were in the zoo) just like Granddad and Caleb are on their adventure—like when Granddad and Caleb look up at the sky full of stars, alluding to the infinite possibilities.

What a beautiful book!

Check it out on Amazon!