Iris’s grandmother is all at sea. She’s started wearing her clothes inside out, serving jam on scrambled eggs and talking to the moon. As Mimi’s life becomes more muddled up and a mystery from the past surfaces, Iris and her ‘not-really’ friend Mason must search for answers.
Iris spends a lot of time in her own head, and so does her grandmother Mimi, so when annoying new boy Mason wants to make friends she keeps pushing him away. Another reason for keeping enthusiastic Mason at arms length is that he talks about his grandfather who has dementia and lives in a home. Iris does not want to face up to Mimi’s unacknowledged dementia and fears that if her parents find out they will insist she returns home. Home has been a difficult place to live since the twins were born, taking her parents attention away from her, and since her bedroom needs damp-proofing and sharing with the twins is definitely not an option she is allowed to move in with Mimi temporarily. She learns lots about Mimi’s life as a photographer and discovers from one of the photos that Mimi had a cousin who reportedly drowned at sea when she was 2. But on a school trip to the local museum Mason & Iris discover Coral was still alive when she was 10. Is there a mystery to be solved or is this just another example of Mimi’s failing memory?
A sensitively portrayed story of living with someone who is gradually developing dementia, and pretending everything is okay while you try to sift out the truths from the confusion. Thought provoking and sometimes laugh out loud funny, this is an ideal story for 10+ and, with careful preparation regarding the topic of dementia prior to reading, would make a good year5/6 class read.
Schoolbk blog 