Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs: Biography

Tomie dePaola uses life experiences for the stories in a lot of his books and a prime example is "Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs." This book is about his grandmother and his great-grandmother and his visits to them and how he dealt with his great-grandmothers death. Every Sunday his family would go visit both his grandmothers, his great-grandmother lived up stairs in his grandmother's house. His grandmother was always at the kitchen while his great-grandmother was always upstairs in bed for she was 94 years old. That is how he came up with the their names of Nana Downstairs and Nana Upstairs. Every Sunday, he would say hi to his grandmother and grandfather and then run upstairs to see his great-grandmother. He would always get candy mints upstairs while seeing his great-grandmother. One day, Nana Upstairs came down and had to be tied into her chair to ensure that she would not fall out, Tomie insisted that he be tied to the chair as well, this became a routine for them. Once they were untied from their chairs, it was time for everyone to take a nap and after their naps, Nana Downstairs would brush out the hair of Nana Upstairs and then brush her own. One day, hos older brother came upstairs and say her hair down and said that she looked like a witch and Tomie insisted that she was beautiful. They would also go for ice cream with his grandfather and dad, and sometimes their Uncle Charles. There was a day that they even took a picture of Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs with Tomie in the middle. Then one day, Tomie's mother told him that Nana Upstairs died and that meant she would not be there anymore. Tomie was very upset and did not like seeing the empty bed upstairs. One night Tomie say a falling stair and his mother told him that it was a kiss from Nana Upstairs. Years later when Tomie was grown up and Nana Downstairs passed away, he say another shooting stair and knew that they were both Nana Upstairs now.
While it is kind of a sad story, it could help a child deal with a death in their family and help them relate to how sad Tomie was when he Great-Grandmother passed away. Death can be very difficult for young children to understand and accept. This book could help them remember good times with those who have passed and make their own way of remembering them and saying goodbye like Tomie's shooting star. I do not think that this could really be a book to read to the whole class but maybe something sent home for parents to read to their children or just a free time choice. Like always, Tomie dePaola's illustrations are colorful and detailed perfectly so that the reader can read the emotion on the character's faces.
dePaola, Tomie (1973). Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons.