Connecticut author Gayle Byrne won the Book Award for Best Children’s Literature on Aging from the Association for Gerontology for “Sometimes It’s Grandmas and Grandpas, Not Mommies And Daddies,” a story about a little girl being raised by her grandparents.

The award recognizes positive portrayals of older adults in children’s literature. In “Sometimes It’s Grandmas and Grandpas,” Nonnie and Poppy may not be Mommy and Daddy, but they have unlimited hugs and love for our narrator, who lives in a situation common to millions of young Americans yet addressed so rarely in children’s books.

“Sometimes It’s Grandmas and Grandpas” was promoted at the annual AGHE conference in Washington, D.C. where Byrne’s book sale and signing sold out.