Book dedication examples for your grandparents
A dedication to grandparents often reaches back to childhood: the stories they told, the kitchen that smelled of baking, or the books they kept for your visits. Below are examples sorted by tone. Choose one to see it on the page, or write your own.
By the Proselis team · Updated
Short dedications to your grandparents
For Nana and Pop.
For Grandma, my first reader.
To my grandparents, with love.
For Grandpa, who said I would.
Heartfelt dedications to your grandparents
For Nana and Pop, who kept a shelf of books just for my visits.
For my grandmother, who told stories while she cooked and never let the ending burn.
To Grandpa, who taught me that the best stories are the true ones, told slowly.
For my grandparents, who saved every letter I wrote them from summer camp.
To Grandma Rose, whose porch was the first place I ever wanted to write about.
Funny dedications to your grandparents
For Grandma, who will tell her whole book club about this. Please skip chapter twelve, ladies.
To Pop, who asked if the book comes in large print. It does now.
For Nana, who always said I was her favorite. Don’t tell my cousins.
Dedications in memory of your grandparents
These suit grandparents who are no longer here to read the book.
In loving memory of my grandmother, who would have read this twice.
For Grandpa. I finally wrote down the stories you told.
In memory of Nana and Pop, and the summers that started everything.
For Grandma Rose, 1931–2019, who believed in me first.
How do you write a dedication to your grandparents?
Use the names you called them as a child, since those names carry the memories. One concrete detail, such as a porch, a recipe, or a bedtime story, says more than a list of their virtues.
What if your grandparents have died?
Begin with “In memory of” or “In loving memory of,” and then use the names you called them. Their years are optional. A short line about what they would have thought of the book can say the rest.
Where does the dedication go?
In a printed book, the dedication gets its own right-hand page after the copyright page, usually centered about a third of the way down. Some books share that page with the epigraph. In an ebook, it comes right after the copyright page.
How long should a dedication be?
Most are one or two lines. Anything longer usually belongs in the acknowledgments at the back, where you can thank everyone by name.
Questions
Should I use their real names or Grandma and Grandpa?
Use whichever you called them. “For Nana and Pop” feels like family, while full names help strangers know who they were. You can combine the two, as in “For my grandmother, Rose Ellis.”
Can I dedicate a book to just one grandparent?
Yes. If one of them shaped the book more, name that person. You can thank the others in the acknowledgments.
Can I dedicate a book to more than one person?
Yes. Name them together, as in “For Maya and Leo,” or give each person a line. If the list grows past three or four names, move your thanks to the acknowledgments.
Do I have to include a dedication?
No. Many books have none. Leave it out if nobody comes to mind, because a forced dedication shows.
Should the dedication be in italics?
It’s common but not required. Most dedications are centered and set in italic or small type so they stand apart from the text.
Give your dedication its own page
Proselis has a dedication page ready in its Front Matter menu, so your dedication lands in the right place in your EPUB and print PDF. Writing is free. Publishing a book as an EPUB and a print-ready PDF is a one-time $20.