Do You Remember?
by Sydney Smith; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Porter/Holiday    40 pp.
10/23    9780823442621    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780823450237    $11.99

A mother and child lie in bed, sharing memories in the dark. Changes in font color and placement guide readers in knowing who is speaking at which moment. First, the mother asks “Do you remember...” about a picnic they once had. The child then recalls a first bicycle, and the mother, a rainstorm. All memories include the two of them and the child’s father. But the next memory involves departing their home, the father staying behind after gently handing over a teddy bear. In one wordless spread, Smith (illustrator of My Baba’s Garden, rev. 3/23) shows readers what mother and child see: a room filled with boxes. The child asks if they can “make this a memory, too…just you and me,” ending with, “We knew we were going to be just fine.” Why the father is not there is for readers to infer. Marked by beguiling light and shadow (the spreads in which the two lie in bed are marked by dark shades that grow progressively lighter as the story proceeds and light fills their room), the art captures the past in small vignettes, sometimes blurred with the passing of time and sometimes quite vivid—like memories themselves. How do we make memories? Which parts of them matter? This hushed and deeply tender story will spark many conversations.

From the September/October 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.