An Alzheimer’s Caregiver Alphabet And More…
Chuck Pennington
Tellwell Talent (2025)
ISBN: 978-1779626561
Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Reader Views (05/2025)
An Alzheimer’s Caregiver Alphabet And More… by Chuck Pennington, illustrated by Nick Mijak, is a survival guide and healing light for those who are caring for a family member, friend, or loved one with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. It’s a given that a person experiencing dementia requires and deserves the best care. Yet what is often overlooked but recognized and addressed more and more today in the medical field and caregiver community is care and self-care for the caregiver.
If you’re looking for a realistic but compassionate guide for how to deal with your feelings as you care for someone else, make this book the next one you purchase. Its vital and balanced approach can be a valuable resource and comfort to you.
Sometimes novels and movies inaccurately portray a family or relationship that is dealing with Alzheimer’s. Most make it seem like it’s a breeze, that everything will go perfectly. This “love conquers all” approach is noble but may be idealistic, if not unrealistic. It takes more than love. Yet a lot of caregivers don’t know this in the first part of the journey. Things can seem okay at first because Alzheimer’s can begin at a manageable level. The patient is in the early stages. As the disease progresses and the patient or loved one becomes less of the person the caregiver used to know, it becomes harder for both of them, until the caregiver gives up with burnout and feelings of helplessness. If caregivers have a book like this one, then perhaps this additional pain and heartache can be avoided.
Pennington’s approach to this reality is simple yet comprehensive. The first part of the guide is delivered in an unconventional yet effective way: the alphabet.
You won’t find walls of text in this book that can be difficult for some to digest. The easy-flowing layout will be appreciated by family members or friends just learning of a diagnosis or experiencing a decline in their loved ones. Dementia isn’t always an easy topic to discuss, but this book does so, and in a respectful yet honest way.
The author has lived this experience with his partner Dennis, and that’s another reason to listen to the things he has to say. Let’s start with the first letter, A. Here’s the direct quote:
A is for Alzheimer’s – a disease you will Abhor. Unfortunately, you have no voice, no choice, no vote!
The first line of the book is all about honesty, which makes the advice and inspirational quotes that follow even more important. The writer doesn’t sugar-coat, because that would be a disservice to the caregiver and patient alike. Besides quotations and nuggets of wisdom, the gorgeous, powerful artwork by Nick Mijak provides deeper dimensions.
One point that the author makes through his quotations is that the caregiver should give himself or herself a break, that mistakes will happen, frustration will rise, and there will be bad days along with the good days. The divine is also touched on in the text, as is the longing to return to better times you’ve had with your loved one, and even a sprinkling of recipes and music that somehow add some lightness to the heavy subject.
I love the frank and positive anecdotes that come after the alphabet wisdom, which chronicle the everyday reality of Alzheimer’s. For example, you’ll read one where the author and his partner, Dennis, were scouting for a place to double as their new home and bed-and-breakfast, and then a natural disaster happens. Basically, this book is a love letter, but it ends with a section of blank lines for you to write your own chapter, so the book is about you, too. If you’re looking for a personal, inspirational account as well as an educational one on the reality of this life-changing illness, An Alzheimer’s Caregiver Alphabet And More… by Chuck Pennington, is a must-read.