The Forgettery

Picture: Egmont Books

The Forgettery

from Rachel Ip

https://www.rachelip.com/

with illustrations from Laura Hughes

https://www.laurahughes-illustrator.co.uk/

32 pages

first published 18.03.2021

ISBN: 978-1-4052-9476-8

Egmont Books

Informations from the publisher:

"Amelia’s granny forgets lots of things. Little things, like where she put her glasses, and big things like people and places. But everything anyone has ever forgotten is stored in The Forgettery, and there Amelia and her granny learn the power of making memories.
Filled with warmth and gentle humour, The Forgettery is a beautifully written, sensitive look at dementia and memory loss. Over 850,000 people live with dementia in the UK, which will soar to 2 million by 2051. Globally, around 50 million people live with dementia, with nearly 10 million new cases each year. Opening up discussions surrounding this challenging topic with little ones has never been more important.
Without ever explicitly mentioning dementia, The Forgettery can be enjoyed as an adventure story where children explore a fantastical world where memories can be re-discovered and revisited as well as newly made. Rachel Ip’s tender words capture the wonderful bond between grandmother and granddaughter and Laura Hughes conjures up an exciting, wonderous space where our most precious memories are stored, and the challenge of dementia can be gently explored and understood."

https://www.farshore.co.uk/products/the-forgettery-9781405294768/

Humans are getting older. This is linked to the issue of dementia becoming increasingly present in our lives and occupying many families. Children deal with topics very unbiased and quickly understand what it is all about. But they are also very inventive when it comes to making the best of seemingly not so easy situations. "The Forgettery" is for the little ones who are wonderfully sensitized with this story.

First we get to know Amelia and her Granny (Grandma).

Grandma forgets a lot. Sometimes she forgets little things. Don't know where she's done anything. And sometimes she forgets important things and also special memories.

But Amelia often forgets something. Not because it is forgetful, but because it constantly discovers new things and is quickly distracted. She is a little daydreamer who discovers her world incredibly openly.

Amelia likes to go for a walk with her grandmother and let her share her discoveries. 

One day they are once again on a walk through the forest. Amelia looks here and there. Everywhere there is so much to see, to marvel at, that they completely forget the time and the way, but also discover something very wonderful, something strange. A staircase leads into a huge tree with many small windows. The door to the tree is a little open. A sign reads "The Forgettery." What do you think it's all about? Curiously, Amelia and her grandmother step through the door.

It feels like another world. A wonderland. A fantasy world in which many people work diligently.

It is the place of forgotten things. A world in which, the "Memory Keeper", a colorfully dressed man (or is it a woman? We don't know, but it doesn't matter at all) with a long coat on roller skates in a hot air balloon keeps track.

The Memory Keeper invites them to fly with him a piece.

Amelia hopes to find her way home, but what the little one and her Granny find is so much more than they could ever have imagined. They come to a door with the grandmother's name. They enter and are enveloped by all the memories that Grandma has already forgotten. Memories of moments in her life, of smells and things that meant something to her. The grandmother is very moved. Don't know where to look first. What memories she might take from this trip. Amelia also finds a door with her name written on it. Behind the door there is not as much to discover as with her grandma, but for such a young life already a lot. Memories of life when she was a baby/when she was younger. The room filled with a lot of what she once had on, with which she played.
But then it's time to go home. In this wonder world of memories, they had actually forgotten time. Good that the Memory Keeper watches over everything and also knows the way home.
At home, Amelia makes a book for her beloved Granny, in which she captures all the memories she had discovered behind the door in "Forgettery", the land of memories. And it leaves room for new memories. Captures the new moments in pictures and photos and adds them to the book. Amelia loves to browse the book with her grandma, which of course also records the trip to the land of memories.
Granny knows one thing very well:
".... I'll always love you!"
"I always love you!"
and is sure that she will never forget this.
And I'm sure, even if it should be, that Granny, Amelia no longer recognizes, Amelia knows perfectly well that her grandma always loves her as she loves her.
Unfortunately, there are few picture books on the German-language book market that deal with the topic of dementia. The ones that exist are all quite enchanting and captivate in their own way. But Rachel Ip and Laura Hughes have managed to create a book in which forgetting does not cause fear or sadness, but focuses on the beauty of life and shows a way to arrange with forgetfulness. It might seem a bit like Alice in Wonderland, but it isn't. Forgetfulness is bad and the issue of dementia is a sad issue that goes not only with forgetting things. Most sufferers even forget their loved ones at some point, they don't recognize them anymore. But it doesn't have to be told to young children in such a complex way. The older they get, the more they can be told about it and the more they will experience the subject themselves.
This picture book tells in a wonderful way about forgetting and how you can live with it very well.
It is a very imaginative, enchanting story full of liveliness that is approachable and palpable by the magical illustrations.
A real firework of colours combined with an incredibly intense visual language invites you to experience the story. The play of colours, the magnificent facial expressions and gestures of the figures immediately appeals and formally draws the viewer into the action.
For a while we forget everything around us. Wandering through history, into the land of memories and experiencing how happy Amelia is with her Granny.
A magical adventure that raises awareness of the topic of dementia and shows how to create and capture memories.
It's currently the most beautiful picture book in this subject area, for me.