Betina Birkjær – författare

A beautiful, candid picture book for children to understand what happens when a loved one begins suffering from dementia, and how best to care for them.A 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book A Finalist for the 2022 Kirkus Prize in Young Readers’ LiteratureA USBBY Outstanding International Book of 2022A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of 2022A 2021 Penn Graduate School of Education Best Book for Young ReadersGerontological Society of America Book Award for Best Children’s Literature on Aging of 2022, Honorable MentionStump loves being with his grandparents. His days with them are filled with flowers, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, and so much love! But one day, Stump's grandfather starts to be forgetful, losing his words, which the illustrations how as falling away from him. Stump tries his best to keep his grandfather’s lost words safe, by collecting them in a special box. But Grandpa seems to forget more and more every day, and before long, Stump and Grandma realize that they must find new ways to connect with Grandpa, to maintain their bond of love and show him that he's not alone.This poignant, tender picture book depicts the warmth of the relationship between grandchild and grandparents, as well as the struggle of coping with a loved one's dementia with honesty and sensitivity. Following the story, there is an afterword to the adult reader about dementia and recollection, written by the head of the Danish Center for Reminiscence, which provides some practical tips, such as those depicted in the story (familiar smells, sharing items from the past), for establishing a meaningful way of being together when caring for a relative with dementia.

2024 Bank Street College of Education Children's Book Committee Best Children's Book of the Year. For anyone who's ever been monster-scared comes a lighthearted book about the dark. About what lives in the attic. And about discovering that monsters are - perhaps - mostly scary in your imagination. There's a monster living in the attic. Not a loud monster but a quiet one. It's probably making a kid trap. Each night, it grows in the dark. Everyone knows monsters feed on darkness. This is Monster-Scared. With humor and charm, award-winning author Betina BirkjÍr and illustrator Zarah Juul show us how the things we can't see grow bigger and scarier, how the slightest sound or shadow can send shivers down our back, and how monsters are - perhaps - mostly scary in our imagination.