My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

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After my dad died -when I was 4yrs old- (her son, Max, was only 34), ...she and I became exceptionally close. She died when I was 7. I may have only had those 3 special years with Granda Cookie.. but they were some of my best childhood memories.

At the centre of this book, is an almost-eight-years old, Elsa. When her best (and quirky) friend, her grandmother, leaves her a series of letters upon her death to be delivered to their intended receivers, she sets onto a thrilling journey of discoveries. What was the primary purpose of the letters you ask? You guessed it. To say sorry.

But the unimaginable happened just before Christmas. Grandma died of cancer. Elsa lost her only friend. What was it about death that was so devastating? "The mightiest power of death is not that it can make people die, but that it can make the people left behind want to stop living"… However, grandma taught Elsa that life does not really end with the passing of a beloved. "You never say good-bye in the Land-of-Almost-Awake. You just say “See you later.” It’s important to people in the Land-of-Almost-Awake that it should be this way, because they believe that nothing really ever completely dies. It just turns into a story, undergoes a little shift in grammar, changes tense from “now” to “then.”She left a set of letters behind which would merged Elsa's two worlds. She would be introduced to the real people who were characters in the fairy tales, and who would open up a big world of possibilities to the seven-year-old heartbroken little girl. I was bowled over when I discovered, after finishing the book, that it was written by the author of A Man Called Ove. Yes, I know I was a bit dimwitted. But just remember, it is every single person's undeniable right to make a fool of him/herself, and I am exercising that right by admitting this here! By saying this I admit being in total cohorts with Grandma in the story. I not only liked her; I recognized her as a soulmate!

Let me tell you. She should have gotten a job as a maid. Your house would never be the same again. I would hire her in a heartbeat! I thought his book was wonderfully, sad. I loved Britt-Marie so much. She had these quirks that were in ways sad and in others beautiful. I would love to meet her, God would she give me a mouthful. lol *Possibly one mild spoiler* There’s a lot you can’t know about a person until you become one with her. What her capabilities are. The courage she has." What did you think of Britt-Marie when you first encountered her? Did she remind you of anyone in your life? Where do you think Britt-Marie goes at the end of the novel?Discuss the role that books, especially the Harry Potter novels, play in Elsa’s life. Why do you think Elsa relates to the Harry Potter books more than other novels? When you were growing up, were there books you particularly loved? Which ones and why? A community unfolds strange petal by broken petal in the building where Elsa’s Granny lived and where Elsa’s mom and stepfather have their apartment (in a building it is rumored Granny won in a card game). Elsa learns to recognize the characters around her, at first jealously discovering that the fairy tale world she shared with her grandmother was not exclusively theirs. Elsa’s journey changes Elsa and her neighbors. It is not only the letters her granny left to Elsa to deliver, but also Elsa being Elsa (which her grandmother could count on) that precipitates healing in the letters’ recipients, including Elsa herself who finally forgives her granny for dying and leaving her. By the end of the book, which comes an eternity of fairy tales after it has begun, Elsa is still her “different” self, but she is also quite different from the original seven-year-old version of herself. She has not only turned eight, she….