Remember

by Joy Harjo, Michaela Goade (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Joy Harjo’s iconic and renowned poem Remember invites readers young and not so young to pause and reflect on the immense wonder of the world around us. This picture book adaption featuring the art of Michaela Goade is stunning. Simply, stunning. In the words of the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo, “We need poems when we lose something important to us, when we need to pay attention, or when we need to put something back together that has been broken.” We could all benefit by heeding her advice and that begins with embracing Remember.

US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s iconic poem "Remember," illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, invites young readers to pause and reflect on the wonder of the world around them, and to remember the importance of their place in it.

Remember the sky you were born under,
Know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn,
That is the strongest point of time.

So begins the picture book adaptation of the renowned poem that encourages young readers to reflect on family, nature, and their heritage. In simple and direct language, Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke Nation, urges readers to pay close attention to who they are, the world they were born into, and how all inhabitants on earth are connected. Michaela Goade, drawing from her Tlingit culture, has created vivid illustrations that make the words come alive in an engaging and accessible way.

This timeless poem paired with magnificent paintings makes for a picture book that is a true celebration of life and our human role within it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593484845
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	59,404
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Mvskoke Nation. Harjo is the author of ten books of poetry, several plays, children's books, and two memoirs; she has also produced seven award-winning music albums and edited several anthologies. Her many honors include the Ruth Lily Prize from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, two NEA fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Tulsa Artist Fellowship. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and chair of the Board of Directors of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she is the first artist-in-residence for the Bob Dylan Center. Find her on Twitter at @JoyHarjo and on Instagram at joyharjoforreal.

Michaela Goade (she/her) was awarded the Caldecott medal for the #1 New York Times bestselling We Are Water Protectors, written by Carole Lindstrom and the recipient of a Caldecott Honor for Berry Song, her authorial debut. She is also the illustrator of Tasha Spillett-Sumner’s critically-acclaimed best-seller I Sang You Down from the Stars. Michaela is a member of the Tlingit Nation and grew up in her ancestral homelands along the southeast coast of Alaska, where she lives today on an island at the edge of a wide, wild sea. Find her on Twitter at @MichaelaGoade and on Instagram at @michaelagoade. Find her on Twitter at @MichaelaGoade and on Instagram at @michaelagoade.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/23/2023

In an expansive poem turned picture book written by former U.S. poet laureate Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke Nation, and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Goade, a member of the Tlingit Nation, the creators explore people’s links to one another and to nature. Imperative lines bid readers to remember their bond with the cosmos (“the sky that you were born under”), their birth and parents (“how your mother/ struggled to give you form and breath”), the earth (“whose skin you are”), and its fauna and flora (“alive poems”). Created in watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil, Goade’s lushly hued, multilayered images combine intricate patterns, form-line designs, and realistic horizons in their portrayals of humans and the natural world interacting. On one rust-hued spread, a child touches the earth on the verso, an act that emanates visually into the ground; on the recto, a handprint’s image is delicately layered with a paw print, fungi and mycelium, shells and fish skeletons, birds in flight, and much, much more. Evoking the cyclical feeling of a slow breath in and out, it’s a smartly constructed, reflective picture book based in connection and noticing: “Remember all is in motion,/ is growing, is you.” Creators’ notes conclude. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

★ "A contemplative, visually dazzling masterpiece that will resonate even more deeply each time it is read."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “A beauty to behold…. A rich and reverential tribute to life, family, and poetry.” —Booklist, starred review

★ "Evoking the cyclical feeling of a slow breath in and out, it’s a smartly constructed, reflective picture book based in connection and noticing." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ “Generation-spanning Native creators deliver a lustrous celebration of generational memory.” —The Horn Book, starred review

★ "Sparse words and the rhythmic use of anaphora with “Remember’’ complement the overflowing pages that burst with intricate details, and those busy pages are perfectly balanced with objects and negative space."
—The Bulletin, starred review

★ "A significant work of children’s literature, this paean to nature and Indigenous culture belongs in every school and public library collection for years to come." —School Library Journal

“I am in awe of this breathtakingly beautiful picture book…. It is incomparably stunning.” —Book Riot

From the Publisher

★ 2022-11-29
A picture-book adaptation of a work by former U.S. Poet Laureate Harjo, illustrated by Caldecott medalist Goade.

As Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke Nation, entreats readers to look back on their ancestors and the stories that have been passed from generation to generation, Goade draws from her Tlingit culture, depicting first the trickster Raven, who brought light to the world (“Remember the sun’s birth at dawn”), then a young Tlingit girl. The sonorous text prompts the child to remember her birth, the parents who gave her life, “the earth whose skin you are,” “the plants, trees, / animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too.” Infused with rich hues and energy, Goade’s lavish gouache, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations dance alongside Harjo’s poetry like a musical score. “Remember all is in motion, / is growing, is you.” Dreamlike images of soaring birds, swirling sea creatures, and swift-moving animals travel through a magical world of memories. Children will take comfort in the words of strength about nature and the universe; adults should use this book to spark dialogue about the natural world and family stories: “Remember the wind. / Remember her voice. / She knows the origin of this universe.”(This book was reviewed digitally.)

A contemplative, visually dazzling masterpiece that will resonate even more deeply each time it is read. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews