Leah Komaiko

A great find at a local library sale, AM I OLD YET? is children's author Leah Komaiko's touching tale of her unlikely friendship with a woman nearly fifty years her senior. Leah is paired with Adele through a volunteer "senior adoption" program. The author turned 45 while writing the book, so the title question is for her rhetorical, or maybe tongue-in-cheek. Not for me though. I know I'm OLD now. And since the book was written in 1999, well, by now so is SHE. There are plenty of humorous moments here, but a lot of what's here made me wince in recognition too, because I was remembering my mom's last year's and months in a similar place to Adele's "Chateau" for seniors. And also mentally taking stock of my own situation. But Adele, in addition to being very old, was utterly alone, and also completely blind. Leah, divorced, childless and lonely, was surprised at how much their friendship came to mean to her, and how much she could learn from Adele.

Enough said. I was touched and greatly moved by this story, and will highly recommend it, especially to my OLD friends.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (mere)