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From School Library Journal

May 1, 2024

PreS-Gr 2-Some children adore it when a narrator is just calling it like she sees it, and this critical stance is all the more joyful when it involves gifts of candy and silliness galore. Narrated by a young girl who spends Saturdays with her grandmother, this book combines the glee of Opposite Day shenanigans with the love of a grandparent caregiver who is aware enough of parents' expectations to take them into consideration before subverting them to the absolute delight of a beloved granddaughter. Straub, collaborating here with her mother, based this on her own grandmother. In Love's illustrations, the grandmother has white or pale skin, while the granddaughter has brown skin; scene after scene in gouache, watercolors, and pencil illustrate intergenerational love and delight with dynamic sweeps, wry humor, and vibrant patterns. VERDICT This homage to the eccentricities and charm of special grandparents ticks a lot of boxes. Highly recommended-Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

April 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 3 Saturdays are always silly when Gaga's weekly visit stirs up all kinds of unpredictable shenanigans. In a charming picture book by the best-selling novelist teamed up with her mother, a children's literacy advocate, a granddaughter delightedly recounts all the wacky ways her beloved Gaga behaves (or doesn't). This unique grandma has a goofy take on everything, from wearing slippers on her ears and walking backwards to chatting with plants and splashing joyously in the mess of an overflowing bubble bath. Confiding to her granddaughter that "mistakes are fun!" this irrepressible free spirit stays in character even when Mom and Dad come home, solemnly asserting that the pair simply had to eat all those marshmallows to keep the goblins away. Award-winning illustrator Love uses vivid sweeps of color and expressive linework in dynamic compositions, adding cleverly observed details, to bring this sprightly character and her quirky antics to something decidedly larger-than-life. Unconventional Gaga is a downright delight--like her granddaughter, young readers will revel in the carefree silliness of these shared "mistake days."

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Horn Book

March 1, 2024
In this picture book by adult novelist Emma Straub and her mother, Saturday is Gaga day. Each week, our young narrator's parents head off to do errands, leaving grandmother and grandkid to have a day of their own. Unconventional grandparent Gaga is as spirited as they come: "Gaga makes lots of mistakes," warns her grandchild at the start of the story. These "mistakes" include wearing fuzzy pink slippers on her ears, walking backward through the neighborhood, and reading a bedtime story upside down. "Mistakes are fun, aren't they?" Gaga asks. Each page offers a glimpse into another Saturday spent together. Whether dancing in costume or creating a merry mountain of bubbles at bathtime, Gaga brings a childlike joy to every playdate. Pencil, watercolor, and gouache in Love's recognizable style (Julian Is a Mermaid, rev. 5/18) add an extra dose of magic to the pair's fanciful days. Gaga is fabulously decked-out with big, bold glasses and eye-catching accessories. Her grandchild's smart green spectacles and indulgent imagination suggest that the apple didn't fall far from the grandma tree. With bright bursts of color and extravagant scenes, the book whisks readers away into their playful world from the very first page. Hill Saxton

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Kirkus

February 15, 2024
Grandma's so-called errors are enough to drive anyone gaga--but in the best possible way. On Saturdays, when Gaga visits her 4-year-old grandchild--who narrates the story--she "makes lots of mistakes." Sometimes she wears her fuzzy slippers on her ears. Or she and her grandchild switch their eyeglasses so neither of them can see a thing. Or she substitutes a chocolate bar for chewing gum, rationalizing, "Isn't that gum? You can chew it." Gaga sees nothing wrong in reading an upside-down book to the child. On treks to the park, the pair walk backward. Occasionally, the protagonist's parents disapprove of Gaga's ideas, such as feeding their child marshmallows before dinner or filling the tub to overflowing with soap bubbles. But grandchild and Gaga agree that "mistakes are fun, aren't they?" This is a gently comical tribute to warm, deeply loving grandmother-grandchild relationships. Gaga clearly understands that adults can easily form close bonds with kids if they use humor, behave in a childlike manner themselves, and appreciate a youngster's sense of wonder and absurdity. The message here is that more grown-ups should make the "mistake" of loosening up a bit. The dynamic pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are as free-wheeling and entertaining as gray-haired Gaga, who is pale-skinned; the protagonists and the parents are brown-skinned. Who wouldn't love spending time with a memorable grandmother like this? (Picture book. 4-7)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Publisher's Weekly

January 15, 2024
Gaga, the glamorous grandmother of this book's young narrator, revels in defying convention throughout a rollicking familial portrait by mother-daughter Susan (Reading with Babies, Toddlers & Twos, for adults) and Emma Straub (Very Good Hats). Cataloging the ways that Gaga turns things upside down when visiting her grandchild each week, the child begins broadly: "She makes lots of mistakes." When grandmother and grandchild walk to the park, "Gaga makes up silly rules, like we can only walk backwards the whole way, or we can only walk on cracks in the sidewalk." When the child, portrayed with light brown skin, teaches pale-skinned Gaga ballet moves, Gaga "does them all wonky." Gaga sometimes annoys the grandchild's parents by being generous with marsh-
mallows before dinner, and filling the tub at bath time with mountains of bubbles that have to be mopped up. ("Mistakes are fun, aren't they?" Gaga says.) As the Straubs highlight with panache the importance-and pleasure-of breaking the rules,
Love (A Bed of Stars) captures Gaga's Auntie Mame—style dash, spontaneity, and sartorial splendor, and the air of conspi-
ratorial delight that she and her grandchild share. Ages 4—8.