Koro loves to laugh and joke with his grandchildren. He pushes their swing or swings them round on his clothes line. “Blimmin Koro!” says Nana, laughing too.

He begins to mix up their names and they think he is joking again. Nana says, “He knows who you are. Bimmin Koro!”

When Nana takes him to the doctor about other things he is forgetting, he has a few tests. His family are beginning to worry.

Soon he is forgetting simple things. Nana has always said, “Blimmin Koro,” when he is tricking and joking but she’s worried too. She uses photo albums to remind him of all the wonderful things they have seen and done together, and then assures her grandchildren that although he doesn’t play or say much now from his wheelchair, he is still their koro.

A beautiful hardback bilingual story of a much loved koro (grandfather) fighting a battle with dementia. Alzheimers Disease is a quiet illness, slowly robbing a person of their memories and personality, leaving family grieving for the way they were and finding a way to a new normal.

A page in the rear of the book provides a way to explain dementia to young children.

Author – Jill-Bevan Brown

Illustrator – Trish Bowles

Picture Book

(2021, Oratia, NZ, New Zealand, Maori, Grandparent, Poppa, Koro, Grandfather, Grandpa, Dementia, Alzheimers, Memories, Memory, Mokopuna, Grandchildren, Bilingual)