Premise ~ Elsa is a 7 year old girl (almost 8) with a grandmother that we would describe as “free spirited”. She tells her granddaughter fairy tales through life and about several make believe worlds. But, when her grandma passes away, Elsa has a treasure hunt of finding letters and delivering to people that her grandma wants to apologize to. Although this sounds like a big task for a 7 year old girl, she learns about her grandma, and life, along the way.

Thoughts ~ It took me a bit to get in to this book, but I learned a lesson that you should always read a book up until page 100. If you can get that far, you will either love it and want to keep reading or you will realize that you just can’t. So, yes. At first, I was kind of like, “Meh…” but since I am the one that picked out the book for book club and I’m the one that chooses the questions we discuss, I couldn’t fake not having enough time to read. Well, let me tell you, once you get in to it and realize how it will all start coming together, it’s fantastic! It made me wish that my own parents, and even myself to my children, had told fairy tales to explain how the real world works. I knew that I wouldn’t have enough time to finish the book prior to book club so I downloaded MY FIRST audio book and finished it that way. My goodness, so well worth it! The audio book is narrated by Joan Walker and her English accent draws you in to the story and brings these characters so much life! Honestly, I would listen to her read the dictionary, I just loved her so much. Back to the book, I had never read anything by Fredrik Backman before but having read this, I will read others. Or listen if Joan Walker is narrating. This book kind of brought out the child in me and made me want to live in a world where there were fairytales being told of knights, princesses being protected and the monster that really isn’t a monster. So, let me just clarify, although they do talk of fairytales, this isn’t a book for a 5 year old. But, if I had a pre-teen that had some maturity, I would let them read. This book reminds you that you shouldn’t judge someone just by what you see on the outside. Everyone has a “story” and that may be why they are that way. But, once a bit of love is shown to them and understanding, people may just change.

Book Club Questions (Do not read any further if you have not finished the book)

The book starts with the pronouncement, “Every seven-year-old deserves a superhero.” Do you agree?

Were you surprised by the ways in which each of the apartment tenants were connected to the others? Which relationship surprised you the most? Why?

Elsa loves the Harry Potter books. If you have not read them but understand the gist or if you have read them, why do you think she related to these so well?

Did your opinion of Britt-Marie change toward the end of the book?

Did you relate to any of the characters in the book whether personally or someone else?

If you were one of the tenants and Elsa was describing your “super power”, what do you hope it would be?

Granny says, “It’s a grandmother’s prerogative never to have to show her worst sides to her grandchild, Elsa. Never to have to talk about what she was like before she became a grandmother.” How did this make you feel and do you agree?

Would you like a grandmother like Granny?