Ice Cream for Lunch: A Grandparents Handbook

Editor's Choice, The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize 2024

This sage grandparent's tale begins atypically, with the birth of a special needs first grandchild, with learning to set aside anxiety, accept what is and practice gratitude, "learning to love/in sun and shade, /and finding grace." The poems make delicious meals of the joys of grandparenting, the sweetness and humor as well as the wisdom gained, the ways grandparents can learn to relax and enjoy each moment, "singing/Let It Go, Let It Go," with grandchildren, "knowing/both joy and sorrow are holy."

-Kirkus Reviews

"Laura Foley uses just the right details to capture a grandmother's love of her three unique and remarkable grandchildren. I was absolutely charmed by this book."

-Lesléa Newman, author of I Carry My Mother and I Wish My Father

"The many adventures of this lively bunch will wake in the reader a palpable joy...This book is a gem-completely whole from start to finish in its wisdom, its humor, and the gift of openness."

-Clyde Watson, author of Father Fox's Pennyrhymes

"Laura Foley teaches us how to navigate life-but this time, in the companionship of Evelyn, Eleanor and Milo. At once funny, tender, wise and generous..."

-Brooke Herter James, winner of the Fish Poetry Prize

"Those who have grandchildren will resonate with the newness, the pleasure, and the ache inherent in that relationship; those who do not will wish they did."

-James K. Zimmerman, author of The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen