Questions
Is Grandma Edna a real person?
Yes Grandma Edna is a real person. She lived in Melbourne, Australia and Aimee Chan (the author) is her
granddaughter-in-law.
Read more about Grandma Edna here.
Is Grandma Edna really 100 years old?
At the time of publication of the book, Grandma Edna was actually
102 years old!
How was life different 100 years ago?
Lots of things have changed in the last 100 years. When Grandma Edna was born in 1916 the world was in the middle of World War I. Photographs were in black and white. There was no television!
In this video you can see some adults attending a childrens concert 100 years ago. Even the way they dress is quite different from today.
How did you come up with the idea for the book?
Aimee Chan (the author) is Grandma Edna’s granddaughter-in-law. Aimee had always wanted to interview Edna so one day they sat down and spent several hours recording some conversations about Edna’s life.
Later when Aimee went to check the recordings, she realised they had all disappeared. As you can imagine, she was extremely upset! She had wanted to share those recordings with her kids and she started to imagine what her kids would have thought and felt listening to Grandma Edna’s stories. That’s when the idea for a children’s book came about.
Things to think about for eager readers, parents and teachers!
What present would you buy someone who is turning 100?
What do you think was the age of the oldest person who ever lived?
Here is a video of a 103-year-old lady running.
What are some other new things you might try for the first time if you were 100 years old?
Here is some footage of Australian footballers in 1916.
What are the differences between football then and today?
What are some other things that have changed in the last 100 years?
What do you think life will be like if you live to 100?
What are some of the things that you imagine might change in that time?
If you could only have one toy, which toy would you choose and why?
Who is someone important in your life that you might like to write a story about?
What makes their story interesting for other people?
Have a question for us?
