Everything is going well in eleven-year-old Annie's ordered life--until she finds out that her ailing grandmother is coming to live with the family. A virtual stranger, her grandmother takes over Annie's room, smokes in the house, runs her mother ragged and turns Annie's whole world on end. Annie fights to stay afloat as her problems, both at home and at school, multiply. In an attempt to help her cope with the changes, Annie's parents enroll her in a local genealogical society where she grudgingly embarks on a journey to learn her family tree. In the process she discovers not only that her grandmother has a wealth of knowledge and stories about their shared family history, but that she was not always the angry old woman she seems to be. A humorous, fast-paced story that approaches a difficult subject in a novel way, The Gramma War will speak to all children who haven't had the chance to get to know their grandparents, and who sometimes wonder at life's fairness. In a time when extended families are spread around the globe and family ties are ever more tenuous, The Gramma War shows that we need to embrace the family experience, with all its blemishes. Always fascinated by genealogy and the fragility of family history, Kristin Butcher wrote The Gramma War in an effort to speak to young readers who aren't always able to hear their family stories and who may have lost contact with aged family members. A former teacher turned writer and reviewer, Kristin lives in Victoria, British Columbia. The Gramma War is her third novel for middle readers. The Runaways (Kids Can Press, 1997) was a regional winner of the Silver Birch Award. The Tomorow Tunnel (Thistledown Press) was released in 1999.