Discovering a Treasure

Antique shops! They evoke in us a sense of curiosity and exploration. It's like climbing into a time machine, spinning through a time warp, and being transported into part of the past.

Shopping for antiques is like hunting for gold or going on a treasure hunt. We all hope to find a treasure that will serve as a conversation piece within our own talking walls or a nugget of nostalgia from our past.

So my younger girls and I went on a trip back-in-time and lifted layers of dust to unveil:

• The Pillbury Dough Boy---remember him? You can read his Obituary here.


• An old coca-cola machine
  
• Old pressing irons
  
• An Aunt Jemima syrup bottle---void of syrup, of course

Trust me, if you are over forty, a trip to the antique shop will date you. I promise.

And so I knew there was a treasure just waiting for me at the bookstore when children's author Dotti Enderle announced the release of her new book Grandpa for Sale.

I really wanted to plan a trip to the Houston area for one of her book signing gigs but I finally couldn't help myself and bought the book as is. And I was correct...it is a treasure.

What's a grandpa worth to a child? What is he worth to your child. What was he worth to you as a child? Is he, in fact, priceless?

Lizzie has to find this out for herself when Mrs. Larchmont and her fluffy pink poodle Gizelle come breezing into Grandpa's antique shop and offers a small fortune to buy---not the Louie settee which Grandpa sleeps upon but---no other than Grandpa himself. Is sacrificing Grandpa worth the treehouse of her dreams? What about having the greatest ice cream shop in the neighborhood! What about ... Lizzie's imagination flies as Grandpa snores on the Louie settee and Mrs. Larchmont keeps upping her price for the priceless treasure she has stumbled upon. Will Lizzie realize how priceless Grandpa is and that she already has the greatest treasure of all in the palm of her hand?

The illustrations by T. Kyle Gentry are a huge bonus in this book; they are as rich as Lizzie's imagination and as priceless as Grandpa. On each page Gentry took special care to use full-color on the objects Lizzie cherishes the most in her discernment process.

This book is a rich find for less than the price of two movie tickets. And you get to bring it home with you and view it everyday. Your children will have front row seats.

My girls have asked for me to read it everyday this past week and I do so gladly. The text isn’t exhausting at all. The children laugh…and I smile. I find them looking at the pictures for long minutes on end. It's like looking through an antique shop...can't touch anything but it sure is a feast for the eyes and one can always dream, dream, dream.

Their imaginations have soared along with Lizzie's: a new bedroom set, owning your own amusement park! The dreams are as endless as Grandma's armoire. Then they remember PawPaw sitting in his wheelchair in a nursing home and they think of Opa's morning coffee visits, and they know that you simply can't put a pricetag on the arms that give hugs, the hands that give love pats, the toothless grins that give puckered air kisses, and the Grandpas who love you more than life itself.