Marika and the Auction

Marika and the Auction
by Helen Metella, Illustrated by Hannah Kate Miller
Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
Review by Sally Meadows
$24.95 ISBN 9781778690679

It might be easy to confuse Marika and the Auction with a children’s book. It is a typical picture book size and shape with approximately the same number of pages plus colourful, amusing illustrations. But there is one fundamental difference: this book is a “storybook for seniors” intended for adults with memory problems.

Author Helen Metella wrote this book specifically for adults with dementia as inspired by, and for, her own mother. Unlike most children’s books, the star of the story is an adult. The setting is in the 1970s, when many individuals now in their eighties had young kids and a lively, energetic life. From fashion to tableware to home décor to the challenges of raising children, this book is replete with details that may trigger personal memories of older adults. This in turn may lead to precious conversations about their lives that their families will treasure.

At the start of the story, Marika, a resourceful mother of five, longs to have a sleek, sophisticated home where her children can blossom. Knowing that they are on a tight budget, her husband suggests she attend a local auction that just might have what she needs to fulfill her dreams for a beautiful table setting. With her two young sons along and misbehaving, Marika struggles to keep up with the auction action and ultimately misses the opportunity to buy the set of fine bone china she longs for. Will she walk away empty-handed? Or will the competing bidder have compassion on her and her family?

Marika and the Auction is a slice-of-life story that will help jog seniors’ memories about the days when dining in meant dressing up and using your best tableware and linens, made even more special surrounded by the love and laughter of multiple generations. It might just inspire today’s fractured families to do the same.

Helen Metella is a TV story editor, non-fiction author, and former journalist who lives in Edmonton, Alberta. Visit storybooksforseniors.com to learn more about all three books in her series.

Illustrator and creative director Hannah Kate Miller draws and bikes in Vancouver, British Columbia.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM.