Remember

by Joy Harjo (Author) Michaela Goade (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

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.

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Hardcover
$18.99

Kirkus

Starred Review
A contemplative, visually dazzling masterpiece that will resonate even more deeply each time it is read.

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
A beauty to behold.... A rich and reverential tribute to life, family, and poetry.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

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.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Hornbook

Generation-spanning Native creators deliver a lustrous celebration of generational memory.

Review quotes



Joy Harjo
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.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593484845
Lexile Measure
480
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Random House Studio
Publication date
March 21, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV011040 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Native American
JUV029010 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | Environment
JUV070000 - Juvenile Fiction | Poetry (see also Stories in Verse)
Library of Congress categories
-

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