Do You Remember? - by Sydney Smith (Hardcover)

About the Book

A mother and son trade reassuring memories during a time of change and upheaval.

Book Synopsis

From the multiple award-winning creator of Small in the City and the illustrator of I Talk Like a River comes a fresh and moving look at memories, filtered through the mind of a child.

Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Award

Tucked in bed at a new apartment, a boy and his mother trade favorite memories. Some are idyllic, like a picnic with Dad, but others are more surprising: a fall from a bike into soft piled hay, the smell of an old oil lamp when a rainstorm blew the power out.

Now it's just the two of them, and the house where all those memories happened is far away. But maybe someday, this will be a favorite memory, too: happy and sad, an end and a beginning intertwined.

In a series of warm and wistful vignettes, as achingly fleeting as childhood memories always become, Sydney Smith takes us into the mind of a young person processing a bevy of complex emotions during a major life change. Do You Remember? is a stirring meditation on holding fast to the best of the past, and choosing to believe in the future.

Sydney Smith is the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children's books.

A Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Title
A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year
A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year
A Smithsonian Magazine Best Children's Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Chicago Public Library 'Best of the Best' Book
A Horn Book Fanfare Book
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Review Quotes

"A master of mood. . . Smith shows that, at any age, shared memories like theirs can help tilt the balance from present-day fearfulness to hope for the future. So can this book."-- The New York Times

"Meditative and moving. . . Mr. Smith has a remarkable talent for capturing light in his paintings, so that even in depicting scenes of melancholy he brings to them a kind of redemptive luminosity."--The Wall Street Journal

"A sweet story about recognizing in a moment that the moment is going to be a core memory."--Smithsonian Magazine

★ "The author delicately and triumphantly creates a book worth remembering. . . Readers and listeners alike will be heartened by the lesson of using memories from the past to envision dreams for the future."--School Library Journal, Starred Review

★ "This hushed and deeply tender story will spark many conversations."--The Horn Book, Starred Review

★ "Strong emotion is conveyed through effective illustrations and book design. . . The undertone of sadness is ever present but so is the feeling of hope. The design and details in the illustrations ask readers to proceed slowly, think beyond what is stated, and construct their own interpretations of story and memory."--Booklist, Starred Review

★ "A loving familial portrait that envisions intentionality around the process of memory-making."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

★ "An immensely satisfying glimpse of a family's ability to navigate challenges through honest conversation and mutual support."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Sydney Smith beautifully captures all the fear and hope that comes with change in this heartfelt picture book about remembering and starting anew." --BookPage

About the Author

Sydney Smith is the author and illustrator of Small in the City, which received eight starred reviews and a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators. He is the illustrator of two books written by Jordan Scott, My Baba's Garden and I Talk Like a River, which won the Schneider Family Book Award, is an ALA Notable book and has received eight starred reviews. Other books he has illustrated include The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart; Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson; and Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, which was awarded the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal. He is a recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, two Governor General's Awards for Illustrated Children's Books, and four New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year citations, among other accolades. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.