![\"Helen](\"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/helen-metella-3428-2.ej_303678208.jpg\" "\\"Helen")
Helen Metella wanted something to read to her mother, a book she could follow but one that respected her age and experience at 86 years old. Reading was a way of connecting with her mother who has dementia, but finding something they could read together was proving difficult.
So the Edmonton journalist and writer became an author, crafting a book she could read to her mother that would be respectful of both her cognitive ability and her age. Marika and the Auction, a new picture book for seniors with dementia, was the result.
Holding conversations with her mother was becoming increasingly difficult and reading the newspaper or talking about current affairs was no longer an option for the pair. Metella noticed the staff at her mother’s care facility had given her a children’s picture book to read. While she could follow along with the story, the book focused on helping children get over trauma; not the ideal topic for a woman with a lifetime of experience and who raised her own family.
Metella went looking for children’s books that would speak to an older audience, that might spark interest and get her mom talking. Some books were funny, others came close, but nothing spoke to an older audience with their own life experience.
“She loves being read to; what about stories about people her age? So I thought, well, if I can put an adult at the centre of the book, instead of a child, the children can be the surrounding characters,” says Metella. “And if I can tell stories that respect the fact that she has had a life and she’s an intelligent woman, her processor is just slow, then I will feel better and she’ll feel better.”
Her mother served as they “why”, the raison d’etre behind the book. But she also serves as the main protagonist; the book pulls from an old family story, when her mom was a young woman looking to expand her houseware for a reasonable price. Marika is her mother’s nickname.
“She liked to have people over for Sunday dinner and we had a large table that we actually bought in an auction too. It was a teak table that had a little dent in the middle of it,” says Metella. “But she wanted matching crystal. She couldn’t afford it. It was way out of her means. But in the late ‘60s my dad started buying and selling cars and he would go to auctions to do that. So he said, ‘Well, why don’t you go to an auction?’”
So Marika went off to the auction looking for a deal, her two small boys in tow. The boys cause a bit of a stir, making it difficult for the young mother to both compete in the auction and mother two rambunctious young gentlemen.
Unfortunately, things go sideways when her two boys start causing havoc, disrupting the auction with their antics. “Boys! Be Good” Marika pleads as she tries to keep her attention on the prized crystal.
“There was a guy behind her who was buying everything, just everything, and she described him to me as a thug. She had other words for him, but he was definitely the villain,” says Metella. “He kept buying and buying and buying stuff, and finally she turned around and confronted him.”
That confrontation allowed the young, hip mother of five to make it home with a set of slightly used crystal glassware.
Metella uses straightforward language, but never talks down to the audience. While they may have difficulty communicating they still understand complex concepts, such as an auction.
The illustrations in the book, done by illustrator Hannah Kate Miller, set the story in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Marika sports a stylish mini skirt while her young boys are decked out in knitted sweaters. The imagery evokes a period when the reading audience was at their most vibrant.
Reaction to the new book has been incredibly positive, from both inside the dementia community and the general public. She’s also hit upon a market that is increasingly relevant to the experience of all Canadians. According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, an estimated 750,000 have dementia now and that’s expected to grow to one million people by 2030.
Metella has two more books in the Storybooks for Seniors planned out, books that will help families connect with their loved ones, help grandchildren connect with grandparents.
“I thought it was a good idea because I needed this tool. And other people immediately see that yep, this is a tool they could use as well,” says Metella.
Bookmark our website and support our journalism:Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.
","slug":"edmonton-writer-breaks-new-ground-with-picture-book-for-seniors-with-dementia","publicPath":"/news/2026-06-17-edmonton-writer-breaks-new-ground-with-picture-book-for-seniors-with-dementia"}}