About the Book
Title: Picture of Grace
Author: Josh Armstrong
Illustrator: Taylor Bills
Genre: Children's Picture Book
Number of Pages: 36
Synopsis: When I grow up, I want to be just like you," said Grace
"That's very kind of you," said Grandpa Walt, "but I can think of nothing better than you simply being yourself."
Six-year-old Grace aspires to be an artist like her beloved grandfather Walt. Every week, she goes to his house and watches with great joy as he paints.
Of course, not everyone appreciates Grandpa Walt's artwork. But as Walt tells Grace, "Some people appreciate the hard work while others just want the painting to be finished. But you can't be distracted by either group."
When tragedy strikes, Grace takes it upon herself to honor Grandpa Walt in a special way. Through her act of love and kindness, Grace's family discovers an amazing secret about Walt's final, unfinished masterpiece.
Author: Josh Armstrong
Illustrator: Taylor Bills
Genre: Children's Picture Book
Number of Pages: 36
Synopsis: When I grow up, I want to be just like you," said Grace
"That's very kind of you," said Grandpa Walt, "but I can think of nothing better than you simply being yourself."
Six-year-old Grace aspires to be an artist like her beloved grandfather Walt. Every week, she goes to his house and watches with great joy as he paints.
Of course, not everyone appreciates Grandpa Walt's artwork. But as Walt tells Grace, "Some people appreciate the hard work while others just want the painting to be finished. But you can't be distracted by either group."
When tragedy strikes, Grace takes it upon herself to honor Grandpa Walt in a special way. Through her act of love and kindness, Grace's family discovers an amazing secret about Walt's final, unfinished masterpiece.
My Review
Picture of Grace is the endearing story of a little girl's unyielding love for her grandpa.
Grace adores spending time with her grandpa, especially while he's painting. In her eyes everything he creates is a masterpiece, but not everyone agrees. Then one day as Grace prepares to visit grandpa, she gets devastating news. As she tries to deal with the loss of someone very dear to her she discovers her grandpa's final painting, which remains unfinished. As Grace and the other family members study grandpa's final piece of work they find much more than they could have hoped for.
I read this story to my 12-year-old daughter over FaceTime while I was visiting the island of Kauai, HI and she was with grandma and grandpa on the mainland. She doesn't normally let me read her bedtime stories anymore, but we were missing each other and she asked for a story. I pulled out my Kindle and this one popped up. She's very close to her grandparents and Picture of Grace instantly touched both of our hearts. This is such a special story and that beautiful moment of reading to her again made it all that more special to me. Grace loves her grandpa with all her heart and aspires to be just like him. However, the instant he encouraged her to be herself I fell in love with grandpa Walt too. This is such a sweet story that deeply touched me. The book is delightfully illustrated which adds to the story's charm.
I highly recommend picking up a copy.
Grace adores spending time with her grandpa, especially while he's painting. In her eyes everything he creates is a masterpiece, but not everyone agrees. Then one day as Grace prepares to visit grandpa, she gets devastating news. As she tries to deal with the loss of someone very dear to her she discovers her grandpa's final painting, which remains unfinished. As Grace and the other family members study grandpa's final piece of work they find much more than they could have hoped for.
I read this story to my 12-year-old daughter over FaceTime while I was visiting the island of Kauai, HI and she was with grandma and grandpa on the mainland. She doesn't normally let me read her bedtime stories anymore, but we were missing each other and she asked for a story. I pulled out my Kindle and this one popped up. She's very close to her grandparents and Picture of Grace instantly touched both of our hearts. This is such a special story and that beautiful moment of reading to her again made it all that more special to me. Grace loves her grandpa with all her heart and aspires to be just like him. However, the instant he encouraged her to be herself I fell in love with grandpa Walt too. This is such a sweet story that deeply touched me. The book is delightfully illustrated which adds to the story's charm.
I highly recommend picking up a copy.
About the Author & Illustrator
Josh Armstrong is the Publications Specialist for Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care in Mount Airy, NC. He has also contributed to several newspapers, including The Mount Airy News, The Winston-Salem Journal, The Elkin Tribune and The Weekly Independent. For more information visit http://josharmstrong.com/picture-of-grace/.
Taylor Bills is a freelance illustrator from Murfreesboro, TN, where he has developed his brand of illustration and concept art for a variety of entertainment media for more than 20 years. His credits include illustrating the children’s books Tear Soup, Someone Came Before You, and We Were Gonna Have a Baby, But We Had an Angel Instead. For more information, visit IllustrationPlanet.com.
