Memory Jars - by Vera Brosgol (Hardcover)

About the Book

Memory Jars is another unique, funny, and heartfelt story from Caldecott Honoree Vera Brosgol, about a young girl who wants to keep her favorite things--and people--close to her forever.

Book Synopsis

Already love Vera's work? Don't miss her first novel Return to Sender!

A Booklist Editors' Choice Winner

Memory Jars is a perfect gift for graduation! A book about saving your favorite memories and keeping them close forever, from Vera Brosgol, creator of the Caldecott Honor book Leave Me Alone!

Freda is devastated when she can't eat all the delicious blueberries she's picked. She has to wait a whole year before they're back, and she doesn't want to lose them! Then Gran reminds her that they can save blueberries in a jar, as jam. So Freda begins to save all her favorite things. But it turns out that saving everything also means she can't enjoy anything, and Freda realizes that some things are best saved as memories.

Memory Jars playfully encourages children to savor life's ephemeral and enduring moments in funny and engaging ways. An ideal read aloud for those mourning a loved one, for teachers celebrating the end of the school year with students, or any time a child's "frustrated by a good thing being over too soon." -Booklist, starred review

"A lovably quirky girl takes "preserving" to a whole new level. Add Brosgol's signature big-eyed characters, a touch of dark humor and a mouthwatering jam recipe, and you've got all the ingredients for a sequel." -The New York Times

A Booklist Editors' Choice Winner

Review Quotes

★"With poignant force, Brosgol's delicious fable conveys the lesson that some things must be savored in the moment." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

★"This playful, off-kilter story will resonate with any kid frustrated by a good thing being over too soon." --Booklist, starred review

"Visual humor and genuine charm at every turn." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

★"Readers will delight in Freda's journey to keep her memories safe, as well as her subsequent understanding of what she has done, in a book that would be at home in all collections." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Upset that she can't eat every bucketful of blueberries she picked with her gran all in the same afternoon ("they were the best right then and they'd never be any better"), a lovably quirky girl takes "preserving" to a whole new level. Add Brosgol's signature big-eyed characters, a touch of dark humor and a mouthwatering jam recipe, and you've got all the ingredients for a sequel." -The New York Times

The Little Guys:

★"[A] pointed exploration of the notion that collective action just becomes mob rule without a moral foundation." --Booklist, starred review

"Brosgol introduces an unexpected idea and adds a clever, collaborative resolution . . . Expertly paced and very funny." --Publishers Weekly

"Brisk and clever . . . Oddly charming." --Kirkus

Caldecott Honor book Leave Me Alone!:

"Funny is hard; Brosgol makes it look easy." --NPR, Best Books of 2016

"Both classic and ultracontemporary . . . especially for children who like to shout along." --The New York Times Book Review

"So well-executed, it feels almost unfair that this is Brosgol's first foray into picture books." --The Huffington Post

"Hilariously mingles elements both folkloric and intergalactic." --The Wall Street Journal

★"Brosgol is a master." --School Library Journal, starred review

★"Delightful." --Publisher's Weekly, starred review

About the Author

Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. Her three graphic novels, Anya's Ghost, Be Prepared, and Plain Jane and the Mermaid, were published by First Second. She wrote and illustrated several picture books including The Little Guys and Memory Jars, and her debut Leave Me Alone! was a 2017 Caldecott Honor Book. She's also worked on storyboards for several animated films, including Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. She lives with her dog, Omar, in Portland, Oregon, where she puts all kinds of things into jars every summer.