A Century for Caroline

by Kaija Langley, TeMika Grooms (Illustrator)

Overview

A great grandma imparts the wisdom gained over her one hundred years to an eager little girl in this tender picture book tribute to family and living a long, purposeful, beautiful life, perfect for fans of When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree.

Baby girl Jasmine heads south with her dad to join the family in celebrating Great Grandma Caroline’s 100th birthday. Jasmine knows one hundred years is a very long time. It’s longer than a goldfish lives, or a hamster—or even a dog! When she gets to Great Grandma Caroline’s house, she asks: how did she get to be so old?

According to Caroline, living such a long, hearty life takes a heap of patience, a dollop of determination, and a whole lot of faith—just like learning to skip stones on the lake. And the most important thing is surrounding yourself with family and those who love you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665934732
Publisher:	Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	59 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Kaija Langley has been writing since she fell in love with words at age seven. She knew she was onto something when she wrote her first poem and her grade school classmates thought she’d copied it from a book! A proud alumna of Morgan State University, a historically black college and university in Baltimore, Maryland, she received her MFA in fiction from St. Mary’s College of California in 2005. She’s called many places home over the years—New Jersey, Maryland, DC, California, Louisiana—and currently lives, writes, and plays in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her two bonsai and her beloved. 

TeMika Grooms is an Atlanta-based artist and art activist who illustrated Save the Crash-test Dummies by Jennifer Swanson, Nana’s Favorite Things by Dorothy H. Price, and A Century for Caroline by Kaija Langley. She is the founder and program coordinator for KidsLitATL, a grassroots organization supporting a diverse group of creators in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives with her cat, Nina Simone, and her two daughters, who she affectionately calls Thing One and Thing Two. You can visit her online at TeMikatheArtist.com.

Editorial Reviews

"A lesson for the ages and love across generations."

Kirkus Reviews

"A sweet celebration of family and the joys of living a long life, as seen through the eyes of a perceptive child."

Booklist

"A heartwarming story celebrating intergenerational bonds."

Publishers Weekly

"A sweet story that demonstrates the importance of family connections and the easy way that children give and accept love. A first purchase for libraries."

School Library Journal

2025-02-01
A Black girl bonds with her great-grandmother, who’s celebrating her 100th birthday.

Dressed in a flowing yellow dress, with beads ornamenting her braids, young Jasmine hops in the car before the sun’s even risen, and she and Papa set out to visit Great-Grandma Caroline, whom Jasmine’s never met. The trip is long, but as Jasmine sits in a booster seat in the back seat, right next to her packed lunch and her floppy-eared dog, Puddles, Papa plays his favorite songs, and Jasmine reflects earnestly on how her great-grandmother’s 100th birthday means she’s also lived a long life—longer than Jasmine’s goldfish or her hamster or Puddles. Upon their arrival, Great-Grandma Caroline, ensconced in her rocking chair, welcomes her “baby girl” with a hug (“My birthday wish just came true”). She poignantly puts 100 years of life into perspective as they skip stones over the pond. According to Great-Grandma Caroline, patience, determination, and faith have been the secrets to her longevity, and her great-granddaughter relies on those same attributes as she finally gets the hang of skipping stones; the book closes with other members of Jasmine’s extended family gathering as Great-Grandma Caroline blows out the candles on her cake. Langley’s first-person narration conveys Jasmine’s youthful curiosity about her great-grandmother, while Grooms’ detailed digital art brims with familial warmth.

A lesson for the ages and love across generations.(Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews