- Picture Books
- Ages 4–8
- Everyday Life
Do You Remember?
A tender, artful picture book about a parent and child remembering home after a major change. Best for families navigating moving, separation, loss or transition, and for readers who value quiet emotional realism.
- Best for4–8
- FormatPicture
- Length40 pp
- Read aloud~8 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Literary
- Conversational
Tone
- Gentle
- Bittersweet
- Warm
- Heartwarming
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
A child and parent lie together in a new place, talking through memories of the home and life they have left behind. Some memories are ordinary, some funny, some painful, and the conversation gently holds the tension between sadness and the possibility that this moment may one day become a favourite memory too. Sydney Smith's watercolour and ink artwork gives the book its emotional force, using light, domestic detail and shifting perspective to make memory feel close and fragile. Do You Remember? is not a loud or plot-driven picture book; it is a tender, reflective story about family change, recollection and emotional continuity. It is a strong parent-facing record for children processing transitions, especially when adults want a book that validates sadness without becoming bleak.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 4–8
- Read aloud · 4–9
- Independent · 6–9
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Bedtime
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: absent parent.
Bedtime suitability
5 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Family change
- Moving house
- Memory
- Beautiful illustrations
- Quiet bedtime
Avoid if
- Sensitive to family separation
- Wants funny story
- Prefers clear plot resolution
Particularly good for children who are…
- Moving house
- Parents separating or divorcing
- Anxiety and worry
- Single parent family
- Separation anxiety
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A tender, beautifully illustrated picture book about memory and change — strong for empathy talk and a lovely prompt for writing about treasured memories.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific feeling is being held while remembering — a parent and child lying awake in a new place, trading old memories of the home they've left. Sydney Smith's watercolour does most of the emotional work. The picture book where the silences between memories matter.
- Family belonging
- Making a difference
Why parents love it
The Sydney Smith for any family mid-transition — moving, separation, loss, the small ritual of remembering home from somewhere unfamiliar. Quietly devastating in the best way. The watercolour-and-ink art lifts it beyond most picture books on the same theme.
- Beautiful illustrations
- Conversation starter
- Bedtime appropriate
- Great writing
About the author & illustrator
Sydney Smith.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Where you’ll find it
On these reading lists.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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