When 83-year-old Sergio is sent as an undercover spy to a Chilean retirement home to track suspected elder abuse, he learns a deeper lesson on human connection. Through the lens of the hidden camera in his decoy glasses, viewers watch as Sergio struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives

ADULT NONFICTION

Aronson, Louise. Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
Noted Harvard-trained geriatrician Louise Aronson uses stories from her quarter century of caring for patients and draws from history, science, literature, popular culture, and her own life to weave a vision of old age that’s neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy - a vision full of joy, wonder, frustration, outrage, and hope about aging, medicine, and life itself. The story of aging is the story of what it means to be human. It’s both a timeless tale and one that’s rapidly changing with advances in science, technology, and society.

Pipher, Mary. Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
Women growing older contend with ageism, misogyny, and loss. Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be. In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face.

Gawande, Atul. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, 2014.
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering. Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families.

Kidder, Tracey. Old Friends.New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Old Friends introduces us to Lou Freed and Joe Torchio, strangers thrust together as roommates. They discover, as Kidder writes, that the problem of Linda Manor is "the universal problem of separateness,” and we watch as, movingly, they set about solving it, with camaraderie and friendship, and ultimately love.

Leland, John. Happiness is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old.New York, NY: Sarah Crichton Books, 2018.
In 2015, when the award-winning journalist John Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America's fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different direction. Despite disparate backgrounds and circumstances, they each lived with a surprising lightness and contentment. The reality Leland encountered upended contemporary notions of aging, revealing the late stages of life as unexpectedly rich and the elderly as incomparably wise.

Levintin, Daniel J. Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives.New York, NY: Dutton Books, 2020.
Successful Aging inspires a powerful new approach to how readers think about our final decades, and it will revolutionize the way we plan for old age as individuals, family members, and citizens within a society where the average life expectancy continues to rise.

Tom, Isabel. The Value of Wrinkles: A Young Perspective on How Loving the Old Will Change Your Life.Chicago, IL: Northfield Publishing, 2020.
It's time to consider how our attitudes towards aging affect our views of the elderly. Isabel Tom grew up in a multigenerational home with her grandparents before beginning a career in the senior care field. She provides amusing anecdotes and insights from these experiences to help young adults embrace aging and intentionally love the old. It's a great loss for the young and old to experience life separately - don't let lack of understanding keep you from delighting in these irreplaceable relationships.

Berg, Elizabeth. The Story of Arthur Truluv. New York, NY: Random House, 2017.
For the past six months, Arthur Moses's days have looked the same: He tends to his rose garden and to Gordon, his cat, then rides the bus to the cemetery to visit his beloved late wife for lunch. The last thing Arthur would imagine is for one unlikely encounter to utterly transform his life. Eighteen-year-old Maddy Harris is an introspective girl who visits the cemetery to escape the other kids at school. One afternoon she joins Arthur; a gesture that begins a surprising friendship between two lonely souls.

Cannon, Joanna. Three Things about Elsie.New York, NY: Scribner Book Company, 2018.
Eighty-four-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. As she waits to be rescued, she thinks about her friend Elsie and wonders if a terrible secret from their past is about to come to light. If the charming new resident is who he claims to be, why does he look exactly like a man who died sixty years ago?

Groen, Hendrik. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen.New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing, 2017. Technically speaking, Hendrik Groen is....elderly. But at age 83 1/4, this feisty, indomitable curmudgeon has no plans to go out quietly. Bored of weak tea and potted geraniums, exasperated by the indignities of aging, Hendrik has decided to rebel--on his own terms. He begins writing an expose: secretly recording the antics of day-to-day life in his retirement home, where he refuses to take himself, or his fellow "inmates," too seriously.

Haruf, Kent. Our Souls at Night.New York, NY: Knopf Publishing Group, 2015
In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf's inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis's wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Hicks, Joyce. Escape from Assisted Living.Createspace Independent Publishing, 2014.
Sharon D'Angelo thought it was a solid plan to move her mother Betty Miles into a senior care facility, but after three weeks at Shady Grove, the octogenarian is already planning her escape. She agonizes about this misbehavior; a good mother wouldn't disappear on her daughter. Then she learns that her late husband did a little misbehaving himself; there's a safe deposit box stashed away in Chicago containing who knows what. Betty has to find out the truth no matter the consequences.

Jonasson, Jonas. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.New York, NY: Hyperion, 2012.
After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he's still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

McCorkle, Jill. Life after Life.Chapel Hill, NC: Shannon Ravenel Books, 2013.
Life After Life is filled with a sense of wonder at our capacity for self-discovery at any age. And the residents, staff, and neighbors of the Pine Haven retirement center (from twelve-year-old Abby to eighty-five-year-old Sadie) share some of life's most profound discoveries and are some of the most true-to-life characters that you are ever likely to meet in fiction. Delivered with her trademark wit, Jill McCorkle's constantly surprising novel illuminates the possibilities of second chances, hope, and rediscovering life right up to the very end. She has conjured an entire community that reminds us that grace and magic can appear when we least expect it.

Roca, Paco. Wrinkles. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books, 2016.
Retired bank manager Emilio, suffering from Alzheimer's, is taken to an assisted living home by his son. He befriends his roommate Miguel, an overconfident ladies' man. Together, they employ clever tricks to keep the doctors from noticing Emilio's ongoing deterioration -- and keep him from being transferred to the dreaded confinement of the top floor of the facility. ("Better to die than to end up there." Their determination to stay active as individuals and maintain their dignity culminates in an adventurous escape.

Burgan, Michael. Chile.New York, NY: Children’s Press, 2016.
Located along the Pacific Coast of South America, Chile is a long, narrow country that is home to a striking variety of landscapes. From the Atacama Desert in the north to rainy Patagonia in the south to the snowy peaks of the Andes Mountains in the east, there are stunning views everywhere you look. Readers will explore this beautiful nation in depth as they learn about its history and culture. They will find out how Chile is governed, what kinds of jobs drive its economy, what its people do for fun, and much more.

De Mellenheim, Sophie. The Big Book of Christians Around the World.San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2020.
Discover the customs, the daily life, and the heritage of Christians throughout the world! Come along with Olivia and Noah, two young reporters, as they set out to encounter Christians of 25 different countries: those who go to Mass by dugout canoe, those who plunge into freezing water in the middle of January, those who risk their lives and have to hide their beliefs, and much more!

King, Bart. The Pocket Guide to Spy Stuff.Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2018.
A handy and newly relevant guide to spies and spy craft for youngsters interested in all things espionage. It includes background and tips on how to be a spy, as well as strange-but-true stories of real spies and their unbelievable missions. This pocket-sized compendium covers all facets of the spy game, including chapters on disguises, surveillance, lie detecting, eavesdropping, misinformation, handling secrets, and high-tech spy gear.

Agee, Jon. The Retired Kid. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 2008.
At the Happy Sunset Retirement Community, there's Ethel, Myrtle, Harvey, and Tex. And then there's Brian. The retired kid. He's here to escape school, homework, and daily chores. But retired living has its challenges, especially when you're sixty years younger than everybody else!

Fox, Mem. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.Ann Arbor, MI: Turtleback Books, 1989
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, a rather small boy, lives next door to a nursing home in which resides Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, his favorite friend, because she has four names as well. When Miss Nancy loses her memory, the intrepid Wilfrid sets out to find it for her.

Hughes, Alison. Kasey & Ivy.Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers, 2018
Through twenty-six letters to her friend Nina, twelve-year-old Kasey chronicles the often humorous observations and impressions of her unexpected, month-long stay in a geriatric ward for the treatment of a rare but treatable bone disease ("osteo-something-something-itis"). Kasey tries to make her life less dull by wearing her own nightgowns, surrounding herself with her favorite stuffies and developing an unusual exercise routine. Hospital food, insomnia and the germy communal bath are enduring sources of dread, but some new (and unexpected) friends make her life bearable.

Thompson, Kim. Eldritch Manor.Ontario, CA: Dundurn Group, 2012.
Are those cranky old folks at the retirement home really what they seem? Twelve-year-old Willa Fuller is convinced that the old folks in the shabby boarding house down the street are prisoners of their sinister landlady, Miss Trang. Only when Willa is hired on as housekeeper does she discover the truth, which is far more fascinating. Eldritch Manor is a retirement home for some very strange beings indeed.

Vrabel, Beth. The Reckless Club.Somerville, MA: Running Press Kids, 2018.
On the last day of middle school, five kids who couldn't be more different commit separate pranks, each sure they won't be caught and they can't get in trouble. They're wrong. As punishment, they each have to volunteer one beautiful summer day at Northbrook Retirement and Assisted Living Home, where they'll push creamed carrots into toothless mouths, perform the world's most pathetic skit in front of residents who won't remember it anyway, hold gnarled hands of peach fuzzed old ladies who relentlessly push hard candies, and somehow forge a bond with each other that has nothing to do with what they've done and everything to do with who they're becoming.

This resource was created, in part, with the generous support of the Open Society Foundation.