Gramma’s coming to live with us! How 11- year-old Annie and her family react to the challenges of this new situation is the subject of Butcher’s thoughtful and often humorous novel. A former teacher, Butcher makes the concerns and the first-person voice of Annie convincing.
A traditional family, Annie’s is in many ways ideal – both parents are sensitive and supportive, talk over problems with the two girls, and share their feelings openly. But even in this loving environment, Annie has a lot of trouble adjusting to the arrival of a cranky grandma who smokes heavily, takes over Annie’s bedroom, and generally upsets the family’s life. Not only does Annie have to share a room with a messy and unsympathetic sister, she even has to give her beloved gerbils to a friend to look after, as Grandma is phobic. Tension and disruptions at home affect Annie’s school life, and there seems no happy solution. Eventually Gramma and Annie are brought together by Annie’s new interest in tracing her family tree, although this aspect of the story, and Annie’s enthusiasm for the Junior Genealogical Society, could be more convincingly developed.
The Gramma War is most successful in evoking Annie’s conflicted feelings, particularly her unhappiness and resentment. Annie is a nice kid, however, not a whiner, and the reader doesn’t lose sympathy with her as she struggles to adapt and accept. Painful visits to a nursing home and hospital, and scenes where Annie’s perplexed parents reveal their own distress, add further dimensions to the problem in the novel.