Heinz Janisch /Aljoscha Blau Rote Wangen (Red Cheeks) Aufbau-Verlag, September 2005 ISBN: 3-351-04062-8 From the first page the bond between a grandfather and grandson is clear, as is the dreamy, imaginative edge the old man lent the stories of his youth: the honey cake he ate, so sweet that a bee followed him wherever he went for a week, or the time he kicked a ball so high it hit a rain-cloud and the heavens opened, or when he found a pair of wings when he was walking in the wood and flew with them for a while. Then there are the stories of the war - these are the ones the boy finds hard to believe. The grandfather's cheeks have always been red, and the boy's turn pink with pleasure as he remembers the tales, even now when the rocking chair is empty. A whimsical, poignant story of the lingering presence of a grandfather, with striking illustrations which have an eerie quality with their mottled light and objects of a disappearing age but also with a beauty of their own that exalts the imagination. There is a power to this book which will leave its mark on adults too.