Jayna, or Gingersnap as her mother liked to call her, is an excellent soup maker. She knows just the soup for every occasion and can make a soup with whatever happens to be in the fridge - even if its just a carrot and some soup stock. Which is a good thing, since it's 1945 and food is being rationed due to World War II. Some days, it feels like there isn't ever enough to eat - and there is never enough sugar or butter to make cakes and cookies. Cooking and baking remind Jayna of her brother, Rob, who shipped out with the Navy as a cook and is her only family. Jayna and Rob's parents both died in a car accident, leaving the kids to bounce from foster home to foster home until Rob was old enough to adopt Jayna. Now that Rob is somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Jayna has to live with their landlady, Celia, who is too concerned with Jayna's manners and safety.
This year is going to be different. Linc has decided that going to public school instead of being homeschooled will be an exciting change, in a normal kind of way. He will not tell people that he lives next to a cemetery, or that his mother is a cemetery expert, or that he spends most of his free time there or that his close friend is the groundskeeper. His parents had been taking him to cemeteries since he was small. When his father died suddenly, it's just him and his mom. His mom has an unusual job and dresses oddly and for now, he just wants to be a normal middle school kid. 
Lucy Wu thought that with her older sister going off to college she would get a room all to herself. NOPE! Her beloved grandmother's long lost sister has been invited to come to visit, all the way from China and of course Lucy will be expected to share her room. Her great aunt doesn't speak English and Lucy's Chinese is... well,you'll see.
If I were a fairy godmother, I wonder who would be my responsibility? Would it be some poor child who can't afford proper dental care (or is that the tooth fairy's department)? Would I be Barack Obama's fairy godmother? That would be neat. In BIRDIE'S BOOK by Jan Bozarth (Fairy Godmother Academy Book 1), Birdie doesn't even know she is a fairy godmother-in-training until she arrives at her Granny Mo's house. There she learns she is the only person that can save her Arbor Fairy family lineage from complete extinction, and sets out on a dream quest to save the great Glimmer Tree and the line of fairy godmothers throughout the world. For grades 4 and up.
On Saturdays, Chavela and her grandmother would split a piece of gum and go shopping on Market Street. Chavela's abuelita would tell her stories about the quiet town of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, where she grew up. Chavela chews a magic piece of chicle and flies to the Yucatan jungles. She meets the chicleros who harvest the sweet fruit from sapodilla trees to make chewing gum. Chavela goes on a wonderful adventure. Fun and colorful book. 
Abuela and Isabela, tell each other stories while Abuela braids and unbraids Isabela's hair every day. Each time Isabela asks Abuela to read a story she has written, the woman finds excuses and says that she is “ a storyteller, not a reader”. When Isabela discovers that Abuela can’t read, she finds a wonderful way to teach her grandmother how to read using the “loteria” ( a bingo-like game from Mexico). This heartwarming book talks about the importance of family and cultural traditions across generations. Colorful acrylic illustrations. Written by Kathleen Contreras, illustrated by Margaret Lindmark. Grades 2-3. 
This grandma is round like a calabaza, a pumpkin, has a cat named Frida Kahlo, makes tortillas by hand to eat with breakfast, sings songs about her bedroom slippers and loves her work. Everyday she and her grandson gather up her props and stuff her jalopy with the things she needs for work--a temple with skinny stairs, a king and queen, stalks of corn, a skeleton, one sun, one moon, a plumed snake and a feathered crown. What job does she do with all of these things? Share My Abuelita by Tony Johnston (the Library's One Book/One Glendale author in 2008) with a child who loves stories and find the answer.
Once upon a time there were two grandmothers. One wrote books for children, and the other illustrated books for children. They had two grandsons - Nat and Will. One day they decided they would collaborate their talent and write a book dedicated to their two grandsons, and they even made the main character's name an anagram of the two boys -Tillawn. Till, for short, was very sad because his dog has disappeared, and he's worried he'll never find her. Along comes a strange little old man who seems to appear from nowhere and calls himself a "finder." He's come to help Till find his beloved dog, but he sure has some weird ways of doing things. This is a quick read, with some quirky twists and turns, and even has two lady characters that are very similar to the grandmothers. Good book for 3rd-5th graders.
