Author: Lester Laminack
Illustrator: Constance Bergum
Genre: Picture Book
Target Ages: 6 and Older
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Publication Year: 1998
One of the great honors I have had as a son has been to watch my parents help take care of their aging parents and aunts and uncles, how they have honored them in their latter years by meeting various needs, including visiting them in nursing homes when those days have come. When I came across Lester Laminack and Constance Bergum's The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, I knew it was book I could definitely relate to. Miss Olivia Wiggins, her daughter Angel, her great-grandson Troy, and the time they spend together in the nursing home represent many of us and our times and experiences in such care facilities. And in Miss Olivia herself, we're reminded that though some of us may face the debilitating effects of aging, those of us who reach an old age will be those with a great history of sunsets, those times and experiences that make up our lives.
This is a picture book for all ages, for no matter how old we are, we're still the children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren of our loved ones of whom we have the honor of walking alongside during their sunsets. Or we're the parent or relative who has reached that sunset, reflecting on the many sunsets that came before and enjoying the time spent with family. Every nursing home should have a copy of this book, and every family who has a loved one in a nursing home should have one as well.
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