Title: Remember Me
Author: Catherine Shelby Hale
Illustrations by: Gage Kevern
Publisher: The Ewings Publishing
ISBN: 979-8-90301-351-7
Pages: 24
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Music
Reviewer: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Remember Me is a book with a repeating message of remembering your mother, as it shows a score of life’s milestones, and at each period the maternal influence of a mother is reinforced for the significance of her guidance and wisdom to her daughter. From birth to young birthdays, onward to child safety and adolescent conflict, further on to becoming a young adult moving out, then starting a new family of her own, the images and poetic text unfold a daughter’s major moments into a cascading reminder of how your mother plays such an important part. Yes, we all have our mothers to thank for so much, and these twenty or so moments are just a sample of times author Catherine Shelby Hale depicted along with deeply detailed images.
The book pages like a poem to the minds of youngsters detailing how much your mother does in your life and leaves the message of one day you will have to do the same for your child, as this cycle repeats itself. The last page of the book shows a multi-generational portrait of moms, grandmothers, and daughters, the feminine side of the tree of life growing. The book ends with a song with much of the text put to lyrics and for those with an instrument such as a guitar or piano can be used to morph a multi-media storybook into a musical performance. A song which can be played and enjoyed together many times over the course of a growing child’s life.
One sequence has an image when the daughter shows her mother disrespect, with the text, “Remember me when she disobeys and breaks your heart in two.” As all mothers of grown daughters know the inherent conflict of teenage daughters mouthing off at their mothers is a common occurrence at that period of development and how heartbreaking emotions become. But this is just a stage girls go through and is buried deeply under the immense love and bonding life leads on in many ways.
Written, I believe, as a tribute to the author’s own maternal bloodline, along with a skillful repetition of combining short text with detailed images, Remember Me is a book worthy of all family libraries. It is an ideal baby shower gift most perfectly matched if the gender of the new baby is a girl. Remember Me is a meaningful children’s book about the enduring connection between a mother and her child. Its message encourages families to treasure everyday moments, and recognize how deeply a mother’s love can shape a child’s world.
