The War with Grandpa

The War with Grandpa is a children's/middle-grade novel by Robert Kimmel Smith, now being adapted into a major motion picture starring Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Rob Riggle and Christopher Walken!

Peter loves his bedroom. He has had it is his whole life. Those sounds in the middle of the night? He has already investigated them years ago and is happily confident those sounds are just the house creaking. Those shadows on the wall? He has long now known what causes them and never gets frightened. It's a great room. 

Peter also loves his grandpa. His Grandpa lives in Florida, where he used to live with Grandma until she passed away a few months ago. When he finds out his Grandpa is coming to live with them, he's excited! His Grandpa is great - so nice and fun!!

But then Peter finds out that Grandpa is being given HIS bedroom. His perfect, lifelong, cozy bedroom! Nothing he tells his parents seems to persuade them as to why this is an utter betrayal. All of his arguments are shot down with their own "adult" reasons. 

So, the last option is, obviously: War.

With war declared, Peter is positive that his escalating pranks will convince Grandpa to give him his room back. Yet Grandpa is tougher than he thought. 

Perhaps this will not be as easy as Peter expected...

*

What a delightful, quick read! 

Kimmel Smith's first person narrative, in which Peter is writing the story for an English school project, is convincingly that of a ten-year-old. It'll be easy and enjoyable for a child of that age or a little younger to enjoy and follow this tale. As an adult, the writing style reminded me of my own around that age - and I still found it very fun and worthwhile to read.

Great themes of family responsibility, thinking for one's self and good ol' fashioned silliness are highlighted in The War with Grandpa. It took me less than a day to read and I laughed out loud a few times. Truly, I see the potential here for the movie adaptation - I look forward to seeing the film at some point! 

A fun fact is that this book was written in the 1980s, therefore mentions of typewriters and no mentions of smartphones bring a distinctive vintage feel. I expect the movie to take place in modern times - and easily so as the main topics of the plot are timeless - but it's a fun aspect specific to the novel.