Grandpa's Grins

When Vance A. Fossum’s wife was ill many years ago and no longer able to buy birthday cards for their grandchildren, she sent him on an impossible mission. It was impossible not because there were no birthday cards to be found – there have always been plenty of them. However, the better ones seemed too expensive to be thrown away and few were really fun. Like most grandfathers, Fossum likes to entertain, tease, and even teach his grandchildren. Unfortunately, distance prevented Fossum from visiting his grandchildren as often as he wished. So a special, more personal birthday card seemed like a good way to bring smiles across the miles.


The “Fan Flea” was among the first imagined critters. The happy reception of these, and the multiplying of grandchildren, led to more nonsensical creations with rhyming lines to encourage laughter and learning. Soon, what had seemed an impossible and frustrating task became an exercise of pure fun – Grandpa’s grimaces became Grandpa’s Grins! 


This book is dedicated to the grandchildren who inspired it. It is Fossum’s hope that other “children” between ages eight and eighty may smile along with him and with one another.