DO YOU REMEMBER?

A parent and child share memories during their first day in a new home.

Hands, feet, faces. Close-ups of these body parts indicate proximity of child to parent in this quietly affecting story of separation and change. The book opens on two light-skinned faces wreathed with dark hair snuggled into bed pillows. The color of the text indicates the speaker (pink for the parent, blue for the child). Each episode begins with parent or child asking the titular question, and as time shifts between present and past, the design goes from double-page spreads to square, sequential panels, allowing Smith to home in on details: the parents sitting on a blue checkered picnic blanket in the hazy sunshine as the child presents berries; the child riding a bicycle before crashing, laughing, into a haystack; Grandpa’s lantern—its glow contrasting with the darkness the night the power went out. As in Smith’s previous stories, sensory descriptions beautifully gird the emotions of the visual narrative, and a sensitive caretaker and child face challenges with loving attention to one another. The parent and child recall how they got lost driving to the new dwelling; the child handed the parent the teddy bear that Dad—who hasn’t come with them—had given them. Gazing out the apartment window at dawn, surrounded by these familiar objects, the child wonders if this “magic” moment will also be a memory one day. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An immensely satisfying glimpse of a family’s ability to navigate challenges through honest conversation and mutual support.