The War With Grandpa

Robert Kimmel Smith is the author of The War with Grandpa, which he published in 1984. The author of several other humorous books for young readers, like Bobby Baseball (1991) and Chocolate Fever (1972), Smith has a history of making readers laugh, and he does so again with The War with Grandpa. The book isn’t all laughs; Smith addresses serious themes like Conflict Within Families, The Difficulty of Change, and Poor Communication Versus Effective Communication. In 2020, the book became a movie, with Robert DeNiro playing the role of Grandpa Jack. In 2021, a sequel, co-written by Ann Dee Ellis, came out, The War with Grandma.

The page numbers in the study refer to an ebook version of the 1984 Yearling edition of The War with Grandpa.

Plot Summary

Peter Stokes is 10 years old and in the fifth grade. He’s the narrator and main character, and he’s telling his story because Mrs. Klein, his English teacher, wants her students to write about a “true” and “real” event. Using his dad’s typewriter, Peter writes about what happens with Grandpa Jack.

His little sister, Jennifer, thinks Peter should include Wonder Woman or Pac-Man, but if Peter did that, his story would be made up.