NEVER FORGOTTEN

Scapin’s picture book, translated from the Portuguese by Rodrigues, asks what happens to things (and people) we lose.

An unnamed narrator wanders through a landscape full of objects, which they call “the kingdom of lost things.” In this land lives one of her mom’s earrings that once came loose, a book that was lost on a bus, a lucky stone that fell from a pocket, and a plastic toy that was separated from a sandbox. “One day,” the narrator says, “instead of losing things, I lost my grandma. Do people also end up in the kingdom of lost things?” At this revelation, Pirilampus’ brightly colored, abstract collage illustrations become grayscale as the narrator recalls stories about the mischief her grandmother would get into. As they feel their grandparent’s presence, bits of color touchingly begin to reappear in the images, and when the narrator realizes that “losing is not the same as forgetting,” they’re a riot of hues once again. The choice to shift the brilliantly simple illustrations from vivid color to monochrome and back again gives this story an unexpected emotional depth. It’s effectively paired with accessible and thoughtful text about loss, and the book ultimately becomes something much greater than the sum of its parts.

An affecting and profound story that’s also lovely to look at.