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Remember Us
National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings readers a powerful story that delves deeply into life’s burning questions about time and memory and what we take with us into the future.
It seems like Sage’s whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade. As house after house burns down, her Bushwick neighborhood gets referred to as “The Matchbox” in the local newspaper. And while Sage prefers to spend her time shooting hoops with the guys, she’s also still trying to figure out her place inside the circle of girls she’s known since childhood. A group that each day, feels further and further away from her. But it’s also the summer of Freddy, a new kid who truly gets Sage. Together, they reckon with the pain of missing the things that get left behind as time moves on, savor what’s good in the present, and buoy each other up in the face of destruction. And when the future comes, it is Sage’s memories of the past that show her the way forward. Remember Us speaks to the power of both letting go . . . and holding on.
It seems like Sage’s whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade. As house after house burns down, her Bushwick neighborhood gets referred to as “The Matchbox” in the local newspaper. And while Sage prefers to spend her time shooting hoops with the guys, she’s also still trying to figure out her place inside the circle of girls she’s known since childhood. A group that each day, feels further and further away from her. But it’s also the summer of Freddy, a new kid who truly gets Sage. Together, they reckon with the pain of missing the things that get left behind as time moves on, savor what’s good in the present, and buoy each other up in the face of destruction. And when the future comes, it is Sage’s memories of the past that show her the way forward. Remember Us speaks to the power of both letting go . . . and holding on.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2023
57 people are currently reading
6454 people want to read
About the author
Jacqueline Woodson
82 books9,093 followersI used to say I’d be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when I grew up but even as I said these things, I knew what made me happiest was writing.
I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins. I loved and still love watching words flower into sentences and sentences blossom into stories.
I also told a lot of stories as a child. Not “Once upon a time” stories but basically, outright lies. I loved lying and getting away with it! There was something about telling the lie-story and seeing your friends’ eyes grow wide with wonder. Of course I got in trouble for lying but I didn’t stop until fifth grade.
That year, I wrote a story and my teacher said “This is really good.” Before that I had written a poem about Martin Luther King that was, I guess, so good no one believed I wrote it. After lots of brouhaha, it was believed finally that I had indeed penned the poem which went on to win me a Scrabble game and local acclaim. So by the time the story rolled around and the words “This is really good” came out of the otherwise down-turned lips of my fifth grade teacher, I was well on my way to understanding that a lie on the page was a whole different animal — one that won you prizes and got surly teachers to smile. A lie on the page meant lots of independent time to create your stories and the freedom to sit hunched over the pages of your notebook without people thinking you were strange.
Lots and lots of books later, I am still surprised when I walk into a bookstore and see my name on a book’s binder. Sometimes, when I’m sitting at my desk for long hours and nothing’s coming to me, I remember my fifth grade teacher, the way her eyes lit up when she said “This is really good.” The way, I — the skinny girl in the back of the classroom who was always getting into trouble for talking or missed homework assignments — sat up a little straighter, folded my hands on the desks, smiled and began to believe in me.
I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins. I loved and still love watching words flower into sentences and sentences blossom into stories.
I also told a lot of stories as a child. Not “Once upon a time” stories but basically, outright lies. I loved lying and getting away with it! There was something about telling the lie-story and seeing your friends’ eyes grow wide with wonder. Of course I got in trouble for lying but I didn’t stop until fifth grade.
That year, I wrote a story and my teacher said “This is really good.” Before that I had written a poem about Martin Luther King that was, I guess, so good no one believed I wrote it. After lots of brouhaha, it was believed finally that I had indeed penned the poem which went on to win me a Scrabble game and local acclaim. So by the time the story rolled around and the words “This is really good” came out of the otherwise down-turned lips of my fifth grade teacher, I was well on my way to understanding that a lie on the page was a whole different animal — one that won you prizes and got surly teachers to smile. A lie on the page meant lots of independent time to create your stories and the freedom to sit hunched over the pages of your notebook without people thinking you were strange.
Lots and lots of books later, I am still surprised when I walk into a bookstore and see my name on a book’s binder. Sometimes, when I’m sitting at my desk for long hours and nothing’s coming to me, I remember my fifth grade teacher, the way her eyes lit up when she said “This is really good.” The way, I — the skinny girl in the back of the classroom who was always getting into trouble for talking or missed homework assignments — sat up a little straighter, folded my hands on the desks, smiled and began to believe in me.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 427 reviews
October 16, 2023
"Have you ever miss something right in front of you, Sage?"
I'll just say, Jacqueline Woodson is a lyrical genius. It's always a pleasure to read her rhythmic words
as they dance on her pages. She is an author that will Deliver exceptional books for YA readers and older without fail.
"God gave me His Heart" 🤍 - Jacob
I'll just say, Jacqueline Woodson is a lyrical genius. It's always a pleasure to read her rhythmic words
as they dance on her pages. She is an author that will Deliver exceptional books for YA readers and older without fail.
"God gave me His Heart" 🤍 - Jacob
April 23, 2023
I wish I could write like Woodson does. What starts with a simple story of basketball and friendship set against the fires in Bushwick (1977?), becomes a poem, a musing, a piece of gorgeous writing that brought tears to my eyes. It's one of those books that will come back to me at odd times and bring me happiness and maybe a few tears. While maybe not what Woodson intended, I see in her book the fires of prejudice and hatred and book banning and taking away true history that we are still fighting and would love to run away from but can't because they are always with us.
July 1, 2024
One thing's for certain, Jacqueline Woodson never ever ever disappoints me. There isn't a thing that she will write that I won't enjoy. Remember Us was no different. CW: death of animal, trauma related to fires, death of child, grief/mourning loss of parent
Remember Us is a mix between historical fiction and realistic fiction and follows a main character by the name of Sage who grows up in a Bushwick community known as "the matchbox" due the number of fires that occur in the neighborhood. Sage's mother is saving up money to move them out of the neighborhood so that they can start new. While this is happening, Sage must reckon with the memories that she has of her community and the need to move forward.
What Worked: I never doubt that I'm going to learn something when I pick up a book by Jacqueline Woodson. Reading this title was no different. It's an interesting mix of historical fiction and realistic fiction and ultimately captures the scheme that landlords would use to acquire insurance money. I ended up reading an article that describes how people in the 2000s-2010s considered Bushwick to be one of the coolest areas to live/visit with little to no regard about the multiple transformations the community experienced. The biggest transformation being that of the 1960s and 1970s where the neighborhood experience blockbusting, fires, and finally the black out that made national news in 1977. One of the reoccurring themes that I saw in my research that is woven into this book is the idea that the memory of those who were in Bushwick before and during these transformations gets lost. Woodson utilizes Sage and her experiences as a catalyst for a time in a community that is seemingly washed away, forgotten as they were forced to move on with their lives. It's a tough road for Sage to navigate as she battles the grief from the loss of her father as well as the casual sexism she experiences for being a girl that loves basketball. Woodson ties all these elements into a somewhat somber story, but one that is ultimately rewarding and provides insight to a specific time is US history.
Overall, I enjoyed my reading experience of this one (this should come as no surprise). I'm not sure why I haven't done it yet, but I need to make my way through Woodson's backlist ASAP.
Remember Us is a mix between historical fiction and realistic fiction and follows a main character by the name of Sage who grows up in a Bushwick community known as "the matchbox" due the number of fires that occur in the neighborhood. Sage's mother is saving up money to move them out of the neighborhood so that they can start new. While this is happening, Sage must reckon with the memories that she has of her community and the need to move forward.
What Worked: I never doubt that I'm going to learn something when I pick up a book by Jacqueline Woodson. Reading this title was no different. It's an interesting mix of historical fiction and realistic fiction and ultimately captures the scheme that landlords would use to acquire insurance money. I ended up reading an article that describes how people in the 2000s-2010s considered Bushwick to be one of the coolest areas to live/visit with little to no regard about the multiple transformations the community experienced. The biggest transformation being that of the 1960s and 1970s where the neighborhood experience blockbusting, fires, and finally the black out that made national news in 1977. One of the reoccurring themes that I saw in my research that is woven into this book is the idea that the memory of those who were in Bushwick before and during these transformations gets lost. Woodson utilizes Sage and her experiences as a catalyst for a time in a community that is seemingly washed away, forgotten as they were forced to move on with their lives. It's a tough road for Sage to navigate as she battles the grief from the loss of her father as well as the casual sexism she experiences for being a girl that loves basketball. Woodson ties all these elements into a somewhat somber story, but one that is ultimately rewarding and provides insight to a specific time is US history.
Overall, I enjoyed my reading experience of this one (this should come as no surprise). I'm not sure why I haven't done it yet, but I need to make my way through Woodson's backlist ASAP.
November 20, 2023
Remember Us is a middle grade story of an impactful summer — Sage is about to enter 7th grade and houses continue to burn down in her Brooklyn neighborhood. She forms a friendship with Freddy, a kid new to the neighborhood, and together they play basketball, observe what gets left behind and how time keeps moving forward.
This is my 2nd read by Woodson and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, which she narrates. At less than 3 hours, Remember Us is short yet felt complete, and the story is thought-provoking.
This is my 2nd read by Woodson and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, which she narrates. At less than 3 hours, Remember Us is short yet felt complete, and the story is thought-provoking.
April 29, 2023
Received an ARC copy of this in April 2023 at the Texas library association conference. No one, absolutely no one, writes like Jacqueline Woodson! Can’t wait to add this to my elementary school library.
November 19, 2023
I went to see Jacqueline Woodson have a conversation with Jason Reynolds in the MLK Library a month ago for her to promote this book, and it did not disappoint. I had never heard of the Bushwick fires in the early 80s— the world of this book, a world where families live in fear of their houses going up in smoke, feels almost dystopian, but it's just yet another facet of America's racist housing practices. In the neighborhoods in New York that Jacqueline Woodson grew up in, landlords would set fire to houses in "The Matchbox" neighborhoods on purpose to drive out (primarily Black) residents so they could rebuild with much higher property values. It's such a wild setting, and yet the world of Sage and Freddy themselves feels small and intimate, almost cozy. The writing is clear and sparse and the book itself is very accessible for multiple readers. Overall, a novel that rings out like a bell—clear, bright, and almost holy.
December 10, 2023
Like the rest of Jacqueline Woodson’s work, this book is perfect. The way it’s paced, crafted, voiced—it all makes way for a beautifully bittersweet snapshot of Bushwick, basketball, and childhood.
October 5, 2025
When you pick up a Jacqueline Woodson book not only are you getting a wonderful story about life's many lessons, you're also getting a history lesson you didn't know you needed. I listened to this on audio while at work. It's set in the 1970's in The Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Sage, our MC is growing up in an unsettling time where it seems that there is a new fire every single day and a family is being burnt out. Why so many fires? It didn't say right away and it was driving me nuts as to why? I knew I just needed to be patient and wait because the book would eventually get to it, but my nerdy self needed a history lesson ASAP. In case you're wondering I'm a big "Why?" person. I'm pretty certain I drove my mother and grandmother bat shit crazy when I was little. So as soon as I got off work, I was a googling fool and learned some very interesting history about The Bushwick fires. Many of them were being started by the landlords themselves looking to make a fast buck. Homes were being lost and whole families were left without a place to live.
Now that I got off subject about my unintended history lesson we follow Sage through that summer. She loves her neighborhood, she loves playing basketball, and she finally meets a new friend who finally gets her and loves the game as much as she does. She was a wonderful character to read about and the book was absolutely beautiful.
Now that I got off subject about my unintended history lesson we follow Sage through that summer. She loves her neighborhood, she loves playing basketball, and she finally meets a new friend who finally gets her and loves the game as much as she does. She was a wonderful character to read about and the book was absolutely beautiful.
May 6, 2024
If Jacqueline Woodson doesn’t do anything else, she’s going to rock your entire world in less than 200 pages. Whew!
October 3, 2025
This was good, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of her other books, it was hard to get emotionally attached.
August 13, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley for an e-arc of this amazing book. Jacqueline Woodson has done it again, creating characters who linger with their readers and a sense of place that is almost a character itself. I particularly loved the minor characters, such as Mr. Jolly, Lisa, and, of course, Jacob. Sage’s voice and her struggles to be (and stay) herself are beautifully crafted. Woodson never disappoints.
September 11, 2023
4.5 I’ll read anything Woodson writes, and this didn’t disappoint! Such a detailed and bittersweet look at the Bushwick area in the 1970’s, through the eyes of a 12yo girl trying to figure out who she is. A great story for middle grade readers about letting go, finding community, and holding on to what matters.
Read
August 8, 2023One of the year’s best books for young readers comes out in October. Is it any wonder that it’s by Jacqueline Woodson?
In the 1970s, media labeled Woodson’s Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn as “The Matchbox” because of the frequency of fires that devoured homes and displaced families. In Remember Us (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023), twelve-year old Sage and her friends live with a constant backdrop of sirens and anxiety about whose home might be next. The tension begins on the first page as Sage remembers that summer of fire and thinking about how the present becomes the past, how some memories stay “evergreen,” while others fade into the “once was.”
In the summer of the fires, nothing is more important to Sage and her friend Freddy than basketball. They are both talented but Sage is just a little bit better than Freddy and the other boys. Sage’s play forces the boys to accept that a girl’s skills are equal to if not better than their own. Sage only doubts herself when a bully asks her, “What kind of girl are you, anyway?” The best sports literature always reveals metaphors within the games. In Remember Us, Woodson artfully links basketball and the book’s larger themes: “I took the shot from the outside line, rolling it off my fingers and into the air. Me and Freddy watched it. Watched the ball sail toward the sky like it could fly forever. Like time wouldn’t turn the ball and the game and this moment with me and Freddy to ash. The ball kept flying. And maybe out there in time, it’s flying still.”
My favorite sections of Remember Us are the little episodes and details of Bushwick life that deepen the setting’s atmosphere. Descriptions of favorite recipes, neighborhood traditions, visiting relatives, popular music, and shared tragedies draw readers into the closeness of the community.
Although Remember Us has the feel of a novel in verse, the text is presented almost completely in short blocks of prose. This reinforces the idea that what we are reading is Sage’s memories as they come to her in short, relatively discrete bursts of imagery and action.
Remember Us is a remarkable book that can serve many purposes. It is historical fiction that feels contemporary. The text rests between poetry and prose with a slightly elevated tone in places but completely accessible. Although marketed for middle-grade readers, Remember Us will also be a satisfying read for many high school students. Can students read it independently? Yes. Would it be a solid read-aloud choice? Yes. Is it a valuable option for book clubs? Yes.
Thanks to Nancy Paulsen Books and The Penguin Young Readers School & Library Team for providing an Advance Readers Copy of this excellent book. Please note that the quotes in my review are based on uncorrected text and may vary from the final published version.
This review is also published on my What's Not Wrong? blog in slightly different form.
In the 1970s, media labeled Woodson’s Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn as “The Matchbox” because of the frequency of fires that devoured homes and displaced families. In Remember Us (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023), twelve-year old Sage and her friends live with a constant backdrop of sirens and anxiety about whose home might be next. The tension begins on the first page as Sage remembers that summer of fire and thinking about how the present becomes the past, how some memories stay “evergreen,” while others fade into the “once was.”
In the summer of the fires, nothing is more important to Sage and her friend Freddy than basketball. They are both talented but Sage is just a little bit better than Freddy and the other boys. Sage’s play forces the boys to accept that a girl’s skills are equal to if not better than their own. Sage only doubts herself when a bully asks her, “What kind of girl are you, anyway?” The best sports literature always reveals metaphors within the games. In Remember Us, Woodson artfully links basketball and the book’s larger themes: “I took the shot from the outside line, rolling it off my fingers and into the air. Me and Freddy watched it. Watched the ball sail toward the sky like it could fly forever. Like time wouldn’t turn the ball and the game and this moment with me and Freddy to ash. The ball kept flying. And maybe out there in time, it’s flying still.”
My favorite sections of Remember Us are the little episodes and details of Bushwick life that deepen the setting’s atmosphere. Descriptions of favorite recipes, neighborhood traditions, visiting relatives, popular music, and shared tragedies draw readers into the closeness of the community.
Although Remember Us has the feel of a novel in verse, the text is presented almost completely in short blocks of prose. This reinforces the idea that what we are reading is Sage’s memories as they come to her in short, relatively discrete bursts of imagery and action.
Remember Us is a remarkable book that can serve many purposes. It is historical fiction that feels contemporary. The text rests between poetry and prose with a slightly elevated tone in places but completely accessible. Although marketed for middle-grade readers, Remember Us will also be a satisfying read for many high school students. Can students read it independently? Yes. Would it be a solid read-aloud choice? Yes. Is it a valuable option for book clubs? Yes.
Thanks to Nancy Paulsen Books and The Penguin Young Readers School & Library Team for providing an Advance Readers Copy of this excellent book. Please note that the quotes in my review are based on uncorrected text and may vary from the final published version.
This review is also published on my What's Not Wrong? blog in slightly different form.
December 8, 2023
It’s the 1970s, and 12-year-old Sage is starting to see her area of Bushwick begin to burn. Known as “the Matchbox,” it’s a group of streets where many landlords don’t take care of their properties, and thus many families lose their beloved homes due to fires. Sage has heard the sirens and seen the fires, and knows her mother is saving to move somewhere safer. Despite these problems, she thankfully has her one love to distract her: basketball. Sage is known for her skills, and all the kids in her neighborhood—mostly boys—want her on their team. Sage is proud of her talent, but she struggles with who she is. As a girl, she’s expected to love makeup and hanging out with other girls, but she doesn’t connect with them. One day when she’s by herself, a male teen in the area harasses her, making her think it’s time to give up the sport she loves. Around the same time, a close friend dies in one of the house fires. Sage is losing so much, but it’s her friendship with a new neighbor, Freddy, that helps her begin to see she has a lot to be proud of.
There’s just so much to love about this book: 1970s Bushwick, Sage and her love for basketball, Freddy and his adoration for Sage, Jacqueline’s gorgeous writing. I could go on and on. I just love everything about Jacqueline Woodson’s stories. They are for remembering, just like she said in her author’s note: “The Bushwick of my past is long gone. But in writing this book, I was able to go home again.”
There’s just so much to love about this book: 1970s Bushwick, Sage and her love for basketball, Freddy and his adoration for Sage, Jacqueline’s gorgeous writing. I could go on and on. I just love everything about Jacqueline Woodson’s stories. They are for remembering, just like she said in her author’s note: “The Bushwick of my past is long gone. But in writing this book, I was able to go home again.”
October 7, 2023
I think I need to be a Jacqueline Woodson completist.
This is the kind of middle grade novel that destroyed me and won’t let go of me. It spoke to me in a deep way.
AND it’s also the kind of middle grade novel that is hard to sell to my students. Even if I know some readers who would feel so seen in its pages, it’s just not a book where much happens. I live for that kind of read, but my twelve year olds in post-COVID life… not so much.
Definitely using excerpts as mentor texts this year.
I adored listening to the author’s narration. Thanks to LibroFM’s educator ALC program for the advance copy!
This is the kind of middle grade novel that destroyed me and won’t let go of me. It spoke to me in a deep way.
AND it’s also the kind of middle grade novel that is hard to sell to my students. Even if I know some readers who would feel so seen in its pages, it’s just not a book where much happens. I live for that kind of read, but my twelve year olds in post-COVID life… not so much.
Definitely using excerpts as mentor texts this year.
I adored listening to the author’s narration. Thanks to LibroFM’s educator ALC program for the advance copy!
September 24, 2025
Lately I've been unsatisfied by most middle grade or YA books. I understand that they're made for a younger audience, but somehow I'm still expecting better. Like a kid show that also seeks to entertain the poor adult stuck watching it, I feel like YA books should have something more to offer those who are mature enough to understand it. Even if that's just a sensitive teen or old soul tween. Remember Us was exactly what I was waiting for.
January 19, 2024
While this is a seemingly simple story there is depth of feeling that resonated with me! The characters face what we all do - change & uncertainty - and come out as we all do — different but the same. :)
September 20, 2024
Audiobook narrated by the author herself
October 6, 2024
Perfect book to listen to with my tween daughter as it centers a 12-year-old black girl who loves basketball growing up in 1970s Brooklyn.
She lives in an area called the “Matchbox” due to the multiple fires on the block. The threat and fear of the fires and how it disrupts and builds community is the heart of this small but mighty volume.
This book is character driven, not plot driven. Not much really happens. Which is more appropriate perhaps for adults … but my child loved it nonetheless.
4/5 listened on audio via Libby
She lives in an area called the “Matchbox” due to the multiple fires on the block. The threat and fear of the fires and how it disrupts and builds community is the heart of this small but mighty volume.
This book is character driven, not plot driven. Not much really happens. Which is more appropriate perhaps for adults … but my child loved it nonetheless.
4/5 listened on audio via Libby
October 21, 2023
She never disappoints.
January 20, 2024
Jacqueline Woodson writes beautifully, and with such respect for her readers. Her use of spare prose and plenty of white space makes this poignant story accessible and engaging for a wide range of readers, from middle grade to young adults. Inspired by Woodson’s own memories, Remember Us takes us to Bushwick in the summer of 1977, when fires were burning and Sage was saying goodbye to childhood.
Woodson’s narration of the audiobook is superb. Thanks to Nancy Paulsen Books and Libro.fm’s ALC program for the complimentary audiobook.
Woodson’s narration of the audiobook is superb. Thanks to Nancy Paulsen Books and Libro.fm’s ALC program for the complimentary audiobook.
July 9, 2023
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Sage and her mother live in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York in the 1970s, after the death of her father, a firefighter. Her mother works at the local high school, and is writing a book in her summer off. Sage likes the neighborhood, and is glad when Freddy moves in, since he also likes to play basketball. Freddy's family has moved to the neighborhood because there have been a lot of fires in his old neighborhood, but there are a growing number of fires in Bushwick as well, leading the news media to dub it "the Matchbox". Because of this, Sage's mother is saving her money to buy a new, brick house in another location. The local children are rather interested in the fires, even though some have been burnt out of their homes. In addition to playing basketball, they frequently play in empty lots, using old mattresses as trampolines. Sage has a highly unpleasant encounter with an older boy in the neighborhood who questions "what kind of girl" she is, since she plays basketball and wears shorts, t shirts, and tennis shoes. He also takes her basketball, which was her father's, and throws it where she can't retrieve it. This rattles her more than she cares to admit, and the fires also prey on her thoughts. At one point, she sets items in the bathroom on fire, which alarms her mother and causes her to ground Sage. There are an increasing number of events of concern in the neighborhood, including the death of a young boy in a house fire and the hit and run death of dog that is then burned in the street, and Sage starts to realize that her mother is going to move them eventually, and she will not live in her beloved neighborhood or be close to Freddy anymore. She doesn't try to fight it, and once the move happens, she is able to create a new life with herself, even gathering a group of girls from her new school who like to play basketball. She occasionally talks to Freddy, and she and her mother do go back to Bushwick to visit. It's not the same, and as more and more houses burn (sometimes by landlords who wants the insurance money), Sage realizes that the Bushwick that she knew and loved will change, and that no one will remember that she was there.
Strengths: Readers who got to know what life was like for young Woodson in her autobiographical Brown Girl Dreaming will find this fictionalized prose novel picks up the story of another part of Woodson's childhood. The contemplation of whether or not she should be playing basketball is good for young readers to see; my students are always amazed when I tell them that girls at our school could not wear slacks to classes until 1970. There is a lot about the past that is NOT remembered. There are a decent amount of popular culture references, and the mention of The O'Jay's Family Reunion places this after 1975, making it a good book to read with Parson's Clouds Over California. This is definitely a very evocative book capturing a specific time and place.
Weaknesses: I'm not sure how much tweens think about their world changing, but the feelings of nostalgia will make this book very popular with teachers and librarians. For sensitive readers, the episode with the dog killed by a car is a bit grim.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked the rather similar Winter Sky (2014) by Patricia Reily Giff, or this author's Gingersnap (2013) which is set in Brooklyn a generation before. It also reminded me a little of Rylant's Rosetown, which was set at about the same time period.
Sage and her mother live in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York in the 1970s, after the death of her father, a firefighter. Her mother works at the local high school, and is writing a book in her summer off. Sage likes the neighborhood, and is glad when Freddy moves in, since he also likes to play basketball. Freddy's family has moved to the neighborhood because there have been a lot of fires in his old neighborhood, but there are a growing number of fires in Bushwick as well, leading the news media to dub it "the Matchbox". Because of this, Sage's mother is saving her money to buy a new, brick house in another location. The local children are rather interested in the fires, even though some have been burnt out of their homes. In addition to playing basketball, they frequently play in empty lots, using old mattresses as trampolines. Sage has a highly unpleasant encounter with an older boy in the neighborhood who questions "what kind of girl" she is, since she plays basketball and wears shorts, t shirts, and tennis shoes. He also takes her basketball, which was her father's, and throws it where she can't retrieve it. This rattles her more than she cares to admit, and the fires also prey on her thoughts. At one point, she sets items in the bathroom on fire, which alarms her mother and causes her to ground Sage. There are an increasing number of events of concern in the neighborhood, including the death of a young boy in a house fire and the hit and run death of dog that is then burned in the street, and Sage starts to realize that her mother is going to move them eventually, and she will not live in her beloved neighborhood or be close to Freddy anymore. She doesn't try to fight it, and once the move happens, she is able to create a new life with herself, even gathering a group of girls from her new school who like to play basketball. She occasionally talks to Freddy, and she and her mother do go back to Bushwick to visit. It's not the same, and as more and more houses burn (sometimes by landlords who wants the insurance money), Sage realizes that the Bushwick that she knew and loved will change, and that no one will remember that she was there.
Strengths: Readers who got to know what life was like for young Woodson in her autobiographical Brown Girl Dreaming will find this fictionalized prose novel picks up the story of another part of Woodson's childhood. The contemplation of whether or not she should be playing basketball is good for young readers to see; my students are always amazed when I tell them that girls at our school could not wear slacks to classes until 1970. There is a lot about the past that is NOT remembered. There are a decent amount of popular culture references, and the mention of The O'Jay's Family Reunion places this after 1975, making it a good book to read with Parson's Clouds Over California. This is definitely a very evocative book capturing a specific time and place.
Weaknesses: I'm not sure how much tweens think about their world changing, but the feelings of nostalgia will make this book very popular with teachers and librarians. For sensitive readers, the episode with the dog killed by a car is a bit grim.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked the rather similar Winter Sky (2014) by Patricia Reily Giff, or this author's Gingersnap (2013) which is set in Brooklyn a generation before. It also reminded me a little of Rylant's Rosetown, which was set at about the same time period.
October 1, 2023
A MG novel about one girl’s life turned upside down during the Brooklyn Bushwick fires in the ‘70s.
🔥
Sage is a rough and tumble girl on and off the basketball court. She’s also struggling with the death of her firefighter father, her mother wanting to move them out of the only neighborhood Sage has ever known and Sage wondering where she fits in in the world: with the boys on the court or the makeup-wearing girls she’s growing further away from. Sage struggles with gender norms and feelings of self-doubt throughout the book as she discovers who she is in the world.
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@jacqueline_woodson is a gift and a treasure to the world. Each word in this novel is perfectly chosen to reflect who Sage is and who she is becoming. You can tell the author has a strong connection to the setting and it’s reflected on every page. This would be a great read aloud for middle & high schoolers. The audiobook by @prhaudio was read by the author and phenomenal.
CW: death of a parent, fire, bullying, sexism
4.5 ⭐️
🔥
Sage is a rough and tumble girl on and off the basketball court. She’s also struggling with the death of her firefighter father, her mother wanting to move them out of the only neighborhood Sage has ever known and Sage wondering where she fits in in the world: with the boys on the court or the makeup-wearing girls she’s growing further away from. Sage struggles with gender norms and feelings of self-doubt throughout the book as she discovers who she is in the world.
🔥
@jacqueline_woodson is a gift and a treasure to the world. Each word in this novel is perfectly chosen to reflect who Sage is and who she is becoming. You can tell the author has a strong connection to the setting and it’s reflected on every page. This would be a great read aloud for middle & high schoolers. The audiobook by @prhaudio was read by the author and phenomenal.
CW: death of a parent, fire, bullying, sexism
4.5 ⭐️
November 13, 2024
Jacqueline Woodson reads the audiobook and it is a really beautiful listening experience. Highly recommended.
September 24, 2024
Singling out one literary trait as Jacqueline Woodson's most prominent is hard, but I'd go with the mesmerizing feel of her writing, dulcet tones I've never seen an author equal. Remember Us is an opportunity to bask in it again. Sage is twelve years old that summer in the 1970s when so much happened in Brooklyn. Fires rage nightly, sending firetruck sirens shrieking into the darkness. Sage's neighborhood is nicknamed "The Matchbox" for a reason; she and her mother hope their own home doesn't burn down while they scramble for a safer neighborhood to move to. In the meantime, Sage is entering a major period of social development.
You rarely know right off when your best friend walks into your life. Thirteen-year-old Freddy moves in nearby, a kid as crazed as Sage about basketball. No one shoots hoops like Sage, but Freddy comes close, and he doesn't mind that she plays as skillfully as any guy. Sage would rather play sports with the boys than gab with girls, but her mother thinks that's a fine way to be. Sage feels okay with how life is trending until a run-in with an older teen who menaces her for not acting like a girl. Is he right? Does she need to become a typical girl and not delude herself with dreams of a pro basketball career?
Turning into a teen is one ordeal after another. Sage ponders burning the whole thing down, literally, and when you live in "The Matchbox", others don't take kindly to such intentions. Her mother works tirelessly to keep food on the table and stash enough cash to leave this neighborhood, but what if they actually move? Will Sage know who she is away from Freddy? Will she have the courage to turn her back on guys like the one who threatened her that day on the court? The present disappears into the past so fast, moments never to be grasped again. The future is vague and misty, but with her mother's support Sage will get there, and become someone she's glad to be.
"And maybe that's what matters. That time soothes the sharp sting of pain. Until only the soft and hazy edges of the hurt are remembered."
—Remember Us, P. 146
As a slice of life from an era the author lived through, Remember Us is good. It isn't as powerful as many Jacqueline Woodson novels—for example, I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This or If You Come Softly—but it captures the poignancy of leaving childhood. I was a little confused why so many houses in Brooklyn were burning; I expected the story was building to a reveal about that, but it never really came. Nonetheless, Remember Me is a solid novel I'd consider rating two and a half stars.
You rarely know right off when your best friend walks into your life. Thirteen-year-old Freddy moves in nearby, a kid as crazed as Sage about basketball. No one shoots hoops like Sage, but Freddy comes close, and he doesn't mind that she plays as skillfully as any guy. Sage would rather play sports with the boys than gab with girls, but her mother thinks that's a fine way to be. Sage feels okay with how life is trending until a run-in with an older teen who menaces her for not acting like a girl. Is he right? Does she need to become a typical girl and not delude herself with dreams of a pro basketball career?
Turning into a teen is one ordeal after another. Sage ponders burning the whole thing down, literally, and when you live in "The Matchbox", others don't take kindly to such intentions. Her mother works tirelessly to keep food on the table and stash enough cash to leave this neighborhood, but what if they actually move? Will Sage know who she is away from Freddy? Will she have the courage to turn her back on guys like the one who threatened her that day on the court? The present disappears into the past so fast, moments never to be grasped again. The future is vague and misty, but with her mother's support Sage will get there, and become someone she's glad to be.
"And maybe that's what matters. That time soothes the sharp sting of pain. Until only the soft and hazy edges of the hurt are remembered."
—Remember Us, P. 146
As a slice of life from an era the author lived through, Remember Us is good. It isn't as powerful as many Jacqueline Woodson novels—for example, I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This or If You Come Softly—but it captures the poignancy of leaving childhood. I was a little confused why so many houses in Brooklyn were burning; I expected the story was building to a reveal about that, but it never really came. Nonetheless, Remember Me is a solid novel I'd consider rating two and a half stars.
August 26, 2024
Two things are important to Sage the summer before she enters seventh grade, fires and basketball.
In the distance, always, there was the sound of a fire truck.
With so many sirens, it seems like her Brooklyn community of Brunswick is burning as one wooden house after another catches fire. She might be more aware of fires than other kids because her father, a firefighter, died while fighting one a few years earlier.
Sage can frequently be found in the park, shooting baskets, with her dad’s old basketball.
I felt ball in every part of my body—my feet, my knees, my hands and arms. My head too.
She shoots well and can easily put a neighborhood game together. Except, that summer, a boy makes fun of her because she is not behaving as girls should by shooting baskets. She melts down for awhile and becomes too fascinated with fires.
At the end of the summer she and her mother move to a better neighborhood in Queens. Sage is unhappy with her new school until she discovers other girls there who love to shoot.
Remember Us is a satisfying novel for middle graders. It is not quite as satisfying for an adult as it leaves out a few too many details, such as why they suddenly can buy another house, why the mother does not share the house hunt with her daughter and what kind of book she spends her summer writing. Author Jacqueline Woodson writes that it is “based on a real time and place” from her youth. She is the author of many award winning books for adults and youth. Most of them are about the experience of being Black.
Rating: 4 -
In the distance, always, there was the sound of a fire truck.
With so many sirens, it seems like her Brooklyn community of Brunswick is burning as one wooden house after another catches fire. She might be more aware of fires than other kids because her father, a firefighter, died while fighting one a few years earlier.
Sage can frequently be found in the park, shooting baskets, with her dad’s old basketball.
I felt ball in every part of my body—my feet, my knees, my hands and arms. My head too.
She shoots well and can easily put a neighborhood game together. Except, that summer, a boy makes fun of her because she is not behaving as girls should by shooting baskets. She melts down for awhile and becomes too fascinated with fires.
At the end of the summer she and her mother move to a better neighborhood in Queens. Sage is unhappy with her new school until she discovers other girls there who love to shoot.
Remember Us is a satisfying novel for middle graders. It is not quite as satisfying for an adult as it leaves out a few too many details, such as why they suddenly can buy another house, why the mother does not share the house hunt with her daughter and what kind of book she spends her summer writing. Author Jacqueline Woodson writes that it is “based on a real time and place” from her youth. She is the author of many award winning books for adults and youth. Most of them are about the experience of being Black.
Rating: 4 -
February 28, 2025
“After the year of fire
vines rise up
through the rest of our lives
of smoke
of flame
of memory.
As if to say
We’re still here.
As if to say
Remember us.”
Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson is a story about 12-year-old Sage watching her beloved Bushwick neighborhood become “The Matchbox” as homes continue burning down. As Sage makes friends, falls in and out of love with basketball, and finds out she’s moving, she grapples with understanding nostalgia, honoring the past while staying in the present, and looking towards the future.
This was such a beautiful exploration of the heartache and love of Bushwick in the 1970s. Sage is all of us—growing up and trying to understand memories against the present and future. This is another smash hit for young readers and I’m not surprised that it’s by Jacqueline Woodson, who has awed me time and time again. This is a must read.
vines rise up
through the rest of our lives
of smoke
of flame
of memory.
As if to say
We’re still here.
As if to say
Remember us.”
Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson is a story about 12-year-old Sage watching her beloved Bushwick neighborhood become “The Matchbox” as homes continue burning down. As Sage makes friends, falls in and out of love with basketball, and finds out she’s moving, she grapples with understanding nostalgia, honoring the past while staying in the present, and looking towards the future.
This was such a beautiful exploration of the heartache and love of Bushwick in the 1970s. Sage is all of us—growing up and trying to understand memories against the present and future. This is another smash hit for young readers and I’m not surprised that it’s by Jacqueline Woodson, who has awed me time and time again. This is a must read.
April 7, 2025
Jacqueline Woodson has an amazing way with words. Her books never fail to captivate me and her most recent release is no exception. This book tells the story both of a girl and of a neighborhood in the recent past. The main character and her mother live in the Bushwick area of Queens, a historically black area now experiencing continual fires, many set by shady landlords in an attempt to both collect insurance money and run the current occupants out so they can gentrify the area. The main character also lost her father, a firefighter, to one of these fires. This short book packs quite a punch. Woodson chooses her words so well, using brevity to hold depth. Any words I use pale in comparison. I highly recommend this book.
October 15, 2023
Physical book. I pre-ordered this book from my favorite independently owned bookstore because I love Jacqueline Woodson and want to support any new book of hers. The cover is beautiful too.
I didn't really know what this book would be about when I dove in. Although it's a work of fiction, it's based on real events and reflects Woodson's experience of growing up in the Bushwick neighborhood ("The Matchbox") in New York. Themes of basketball, loss, and discovering self identity as a 12-year-old athletic girl. Poetic.
I didn't really know what this book would be about when I dove in. Although it's a work of fiction, it's based on real events and reflects Woodson's experience of growing up in the Bushwick neighborhood ("The Matchbox") in New York. Themes of basketball, loss, and discovering self identity as a 12-year-old athletic girl. Poetic.
October 30, 2023
A bit autobiographical, set in the 60's and 70's. Sage and best buddy, Freddy, play basketball, play 45's and maneuver being twelve years old together. This neighborhood in Brooklyn is referred to as 'The Matchbox' as fires are all too common. Sage's father lost his life doing his job as a firefighter. Basketball is what Sage does well, what she loves. She is rattled and hurt when an older kid comes to the neighborhood court, asks her "What kind of girl are you?" and takes her special ball that once belonged to her Dad. "Time soothes the sharp sting of pain." Identity and friendship are key.
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